Yard Long Beans Side Dish (Waal Bhaaji With Goda Masala)

A fairly simple side dish seasoned with Goda Masala and Coconut powder. I used Yard Long Beans/ Waal /Alsando, instead of chopping them I manually snapped them off by an inch. This cutting style holds good for tender beans. This side dish goes well with Rotis and serves great with the vegetables sealing in juicy flavours of Goda Masala. Goda Masala adds a different dimension to dry or semi-dry side dish.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Yard Long Beans (manually chopped to 1" size) - 3 cups

Coconut powder or grated coconut (fresh or frozen) - 3 tablespoon

Goda Masala - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil/Ghee

Salt

For Seasoning -

Asafoetida - a pinch

Green Chillies - 2

Curry leaves - 3-4

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

Wash the beans and snap off them manually to 1" sized pieces. In a deep vessel, heat few spoons of oil. Once the oil heats up, season with mustard seeds. The seeds will begin to pop, add the curry leaves and sliced green chillies. Add the asafoetida and give a gentle stir. Let the vegetables cook in the seasoning, add little water, cover with a lid. Once completely done & cooked, sprinkle Goda Masala and add the coconut powder. Stir gently for couple of minutes. The water will evaporate by now and the vegetables will be cooked but not mushy. Turn off the flame and serve hot with Rotis.

Yard Long Beans Side Dish - 2.0 (Alsande Upkari/ Waal Bhaaji)

Fresh crisp winter vegetables are hitting the local scene. A huge bunch of Yard Long Beans caught my fancy. They are known as Waal in Marathi/ Konkani and Alsande in GSB Konkani. I had made similar Upkari some time back. This time around, I changed the seasoning and the cutting style. The tender beans can be just chopped with hands, you just got to 'snap them off by an inch'. I learnt this interesting technique from Mom. She insists that tender beans be chopped in this fashion. That way they do not disintegrate after cooking and remain intact in shape and form. She also uses a seasoning of Byadgi Red Chillies instead of Green Chillies. I am documenting this for my future reference although its a very simple recipe.

~ Yard Long Beans Side Dish - 2.0 ~

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Yard Long Beans (chopped in 1" pieces) - 3 cups

Coconut powder or grated coconut (fresh or frozen) - 1/3 cup

Salt

Oil/Ghee

For Seasoning -

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 2-4 leaves

Red Chillies (Byadgi) - 1-2

Method:

Wash the slender beans with lot of water. Pat dry. Snap them off with your hands to break them off into 1" pieces. Since they are tender they break off easily. Keep aside. In a deep vessel, heat few spoons of oil/ghee, temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Finally split each Red Chilli into two and add to the seasoning. Give a gentle stir. Add the chopped beans now and stir for couple of minutes. Immerse in water completely. Adjust salt as per taste. Bring to boil. Cover with a lid and simmer on low flame for 15-20 minutes or till the beans are completely cooked & the water evaporates. Garnish with Coconut powder and serve hot as a Side dish.

Yard Long Beans Vegetable stock (Aalsandey Saaru)

This is a simple recipe wherein the juice of boiled Yard Long beans is treated separately with curry leaves and mustard seeds. Goes well with rice and is extremely nutritious.

Serves: 3-4 individuals

Ingredients:

Yard Long beans stock - 2 cups

Salt - as per taste

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Red Chillies (optional) - 1-2

Oil - for frying

Method:

Boil the vegetable stock of Yard Long beans also called as Aalsaandey in Konkani or Vaal in Marathi. Give a temper of curry leaves, red chillies and mustard seeds. Serve alongwith rice.

Yard Long Beans Side Dish (Alsandey Upkari)

In Konkani cuisines, Upkari is a popular method oof cooking. Vegetables are chopped and tempered with Curry leaves, mustard seeds or Garlic falkes. Vegetables are brought to boil, and simmered on low flame. Garnished with Grated coconut and served hot with rice as a side dish.

In Konkani - Upkari means vegetables which are chopped and stir fried with little water. The biggest advantage of Upkari is that the vegetables cook in its own juices. Once all ingredients are added, the vegetables are covered with a lid, brought to a boil and then the flame gets lowered and you cook the vegetables till the water gets evaporated.

Alsandey Upkari has been one of my favorite upkaris since childhood days. I love the aroma of this tender beans, chopped finely and meshed with mustard and grated coconut. In Konkani culture, this gets served as a side dish alongwith Daal or Coconut gravy based curries.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 3 individuals

Ingredients:

Yard Long Beans/ Alsandey - chopped finely - 3-4 cups

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Red Chillies - 1-2

Grated coconut (fresh/frozen) - 2 tablespoon

Oil - for frying

Water - for boiling vegetables

Salt - as per taste

Curry leaves(optional) - 4-8 leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and once heated add mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves. Add chopped beans to this and stir well. Add salt as water good enough to immerse half the quantity of vegetables. Cover the dish with a lid and bring to boil and then lower the flame. Give a gentle stir once in a while. Once water gets evaporated, turn the flame off. Garnish with grated coconut and serve hot as a side dish.

Am sending my entry to Sia's RCI: Udupi and Manglorean Cuisines - July 2009.