Broad beans bhaji/sundal

Are broad beans also known as fava beans? I wasnt (and am not) sure, but I'd passed the big bean pods by in the vegetable aisle quite a few times, wanting to try some but never really buying any.

I asked Pete what one did with broad beans - I was really looking for answers to questions like "what does one do with the pod? is it edible?" and "How do you cook it?" etc - but his reply was less than useful, although his instantaneous response made me laugh. (His prompt reply: "One throws them away", from which I gathered that he didnt exactly count broad beans among his favouritest things in the world.)

But it didnt stop me wondering about those great misshapen-looking green pods and what their contents might look like and what they would taste like fresh. I'm not always the most adventurous of cooks - I need to get over the inertia of staying with the things I know and like - and a lot of times I end up just looking at unfamiliar vegetables and then moving on.

Finally I bought some broad beans when I went shopping a few days back... only to find, on getting home, that Pete had bought a ruck of them as well! So then I had way more fresh broad beans than I really wanted, especially as there was just me to eat them. I used some in the sesame vegetable rice, which was okay (although Pete picked out the beans painstakingly). But I still had a heck of a lot more beans to use up before they turned brown and horrible looking (oh yes, that was a fact I discovered - fresh broad beans go brown on the outside fairly quickly).

So I decided to try a sundal-type stir-fry... but because I had some carrots and potatoes left over from the previous recipe, I threw those in at the end. They didnt make much difference to the overall taste and it was a nice feeling to know that I didnt waste anything. I had the beans as a side dish with plain curd rice - very nice!



On the whole, broad beans are quite nice, but the taste - especially if the beans are not "Indianised" in some way - is one that needs to be acquired. No wonder Pete doesnt like them, if the only way he's had them is plain boiled!

Recipe for: Broad beans bhaji/sundal



Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups shelled fresh broad beans
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
a few curry leaves, torn roughly
2 tbsp grated coconut
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
2 tsp oil

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Cover and let the seeds splutter.

2. Add the asafoetida powder, the red chilli powder and then the beans. Stir to coat the beans with the tempered oil, then lower the heat to simmer. Cover and let the beans cook for 5 minutes.

3. When the beans are nearly done, add the grated coconut and salt to taste. Stir to mix evenly, then turn up the heat and let the beans fry a little, stirring frequently.



4. Serve hot as a side dish or as a snack. (The beans dont taste so good when cold, at least to my palate.)

Carrot-beet-greens medley with lentils

Couldnt think of a punchy title for what I made, so I had to settle for a descriptive one. For starters, I'm not sure whether this can be termed "thoran" or "porial" or "sundal" - it has elements of all three. I bought farm-fresh beets (with greens!) and fresh spinach (the adult kind, fully grown) at the Shrewsbury market, and I didnt quite know where to start. Had too many bookmarked recipes to choose from and vacillated between them, discovering that I was short of this or that ingredient for this or that recipe. (Indecision, as Charlie Brown says, is an awful thing.)

So eventually I ended up making a fairly simple dry "curry". I peeled and chopped two carrots and a medium size beet into small chunks, then put them in the pressure cooker along with a handful of green (or brown) lentils. Two whistles of the pressure cooker and the vegetables were cooked to perfection - retaining their shape and not too soft. Plus, the beets gave some of their lovely colour to the carrots, ending up all pink and red and orange.

The lentils could probably have cooked a little longer (or maybe they could have done with a little water, because I didnt add any!) - they were just about al dente. Still, I like them chewy and they acquired a slightly softer texture by the time I was done making the curry.

The greens I washed and dried. Then I stacked and rolled up the leaves and cut them to thin ribbons, including as much of the stem as I could. It took only a few minutes to saute/wilt them in a pan while still retaining their bright green colour. After which I added the coconut-green chilly-cumin mixture and stirred it all up. Sauteed the whole thing for a few minutes, then served it up with rice and celery thokku for a meal that was agreeably - and surprisingly - nice! The bright jewel colours of the finished product was an added bonus.

PS. Please forgive me the rather clunkily edited (background cut out) first photograph below - my first attempt with Adobe Photoshop! I hope to improve over time...

Recipe for: Carrot-beet-greens medley with lentils



Ingredients:

To pan-cook:
1 cup sliced fresh greens
Salt to taste

To pressure-cook:
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into 1-cm chunks
1 medium beet, peeled and chopped into 1-cm chunks
a generous handful of green/brown lentils

To grind together:
2-3 generous tbsp grated coconut
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 green chillies

For tempering:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
pinch of asafoetida
2 tsp oil

Method:

1. Put the lentils in a vessel with 2-3 tbsp water, then add the beets and carrots.


Pressure-cook for two whistles or till just done. Reserve.



2. Grind the coconut, cumin seeds and chillies together. Reserve.

3. Heat the oil in a pan, add the asafoetida powder, mustard seeds and urad dal. Cover the pan and let the mustard seeds splutter and the dal turns pale brown.

4. Add the sliced greens now.



Stir fry till they are wilted and nearly cooked, but still retain their colour. Add half of the ground coconut and stir in, cooking
on low heat for 2-3 minutes.

5. Now put in the cooked carrots, beets and lentils.



Add the remaining coconut masala and stir it all in, adding salt to taste.



6. Stir the curry for another minute or two, making sure it is heated through. Serve hot as a side dish with rice/sambar/thokku or roti.