Yard long beans curry : Karamani curry - Garden to plate

Yard long beans (Chauli / Karamani) have not been my most favourite vegetable, because they are often tough and stringy when bought from the supermarket. Ever since I started growing these in my garden, I've changed my opinion about this vegetable. 

Seeds from Auchan (formerly SPAR) Supermarket, Bangalore

For one, it is a hardy plant, producing a good yield once it starts flowering and fruiting. It's always fun to search for the green delicate long beans among the green leaves and there are a surprise few always hiding in the middle of the foliage. You can pluck them when still tender which means they cook in no time. The overlooked beans can always be used for the mature seeds inside, which you can use in a soup or a vegetable dish. 

I may have said this before, but to avoid any confusion, I must clarify that, 'Curry' in the tamil / Tambrahm cuisine parlance means a dry saute, where boiled or raw chopped vegetables are added to a hot oil after a simple tempering of curry leaves, mustard seeds, udad dal and dried red chillies. And once the vegetable is nearly cooked, a sprinkling of fresh coconut completes the dish. It is almost like a lightly cooked salad and not a gravy dish. Also, it is one of the easiest ways to prepare any vegetable, while retaining it's nutrition, taste and colour.

Karamani Curry / Yard long beans curry
Printable version here

Serves 2-3

Time taken : Under 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp of oil ( I used organic coconut oil)

Pinch of asafoetida

2 dried red chillies, broken

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp udad dal

2 cups of chopped yard long beans

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sambar powder

2 tsp fresh coconut 

Directions

1. In a large wok / kadai, heat the oil. 
2. Add asafoetida, immediately adding red chillies, mustard seeds, udad dal. 
3. Once mustard seeds splutter and dal turns golden, add the chopped beans, salt - stir well and sprinkle water, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes on a low flame. 
4. Check on the beans every 3 minutes or so, sprinkling some water, if it is too dry or catching at the bottom of the pan.
5. Once done (tender, but still retaining some crunch), sprinkle sambar powder, stir to mix well.
6. Remove from flame and garnish with coconut.
7. Serve with rasam-rice or sambar - rice.

Useful information about growing yard long beans on the USDA site. 

Yard long beans curry : Karamani curry - Garden to plate

Posted by admin

Yard long beans (Chauli / Karamani) have not been my most favourite vegetable, because they are often tough and stringy when bought from the supermarket. Ever since I started growing these in my garden, I've changed my opinion about this vegetable. 

Seeds from Auchan (formerly SPAR) Supermarket, Bangalore

For one, it is a hardy plant, producing a good yield once it starts flowering and fruiting. It's always fun to search for the green delicate long beans among the green leaves and there are a surprise few always hiding in the middle of the foliage. You can pluck them when still tender which means they cook in no time. The overlooked beans can always be used for the mature seeds inside, which you can use in a soup or a vegetable dish. 

I may have said this before, but to avoid any confusion, I must clarify that, 'Curry' in the tamil / Tambrahm cuisine parlance means a dry saute, where boiled or raw chopped vegetables are added to a hot oil after a simple tempering of curry leaves, mustard seeds, udad dal and dried red chillies. And once the vegetable is nearly cooked, a sprinkling of fresh coconut completes the dish. It is almost like a lightly cooked salad and not a gravy dish. Also, it is one of the easiest ways to prepare any vegetable, while retaining it's nutrition, taste and colour.

Karamani Curry / Yard long beans curry
Printable version here

Serves 2-3

Time taken : Under 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp of oil ( I used organic coconut oil)

Pinch of asafoetida

2 dried red chillies, broken

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp udad dal

2 cups of chopped yard long beans

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sambar powder

2 tsp fresh coconut 

Directions

1. In a large wok / kadai, heat the oil. 
2. Add asafoetida, immediately adding red chillies, mustard seeds, udad dal. 
3. Once mustard seeds splutter and dal turns golden, add the chopped beans, salt - stir well and sprinkle water, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes on a low flame. 
4. Check on the beans every 3 minutes or so, sprinkling some water, if it is too dry or catching at the bottom of the pan.
5. Once done (tender, but still retaining some crunch), sprinkle sambar powder, stir to mix well.
6. Remove from flame and garnish with coconut.
7. Serve with rasam-rice or sambar - rice.

Useful information about growing yard long beans on the USDA site. 

Hello from Bangalore, finally

Namaskara! Ten weeks after moving to my final destination, I think I am converted. The always-pleasant weather, living away from the bustle of the main city roads, the slow life- it has totally seeped into me. The way Mumbai spoils you with its sheer pace of life and the pace of getting things done, Bangalore spoils you with the weather and the slow life. I don't think I must have complained about the weather more than a couple of times in the last two months, which is a pretty neat record for the weather-cribber in me. 


A couple more things have changed in the last few weeks. 





All my adult life, I have been a morning tea person, unless someone made a steaming hot filter kaapi for me. Lately, tea just doesn't cut it first thing in the morning. My brain cells seem to ask for a stronger dose of caffeine than what comes in a cup of tea.  No, I'm not importing 'kaapi-podi' from ChennaiMadras. The Bayar's brand (not a paid promotion) available in most supermarkets in Bangalore seems to hit the spot neatly. Many people swear by Cotha's but I find the grind quite coarse for my coffee filters.

Before you assume it, no, I haven't given up on tea, not at all. It is simply used to fill up the empty moments in the day, rather than as a morning kickstart. Ginger-ed, lemongrass-ed, cardamom-ed, simple green tea, just about every kind of tea depending on the mood, and of course the weather, leaving empty mugs around in every corner of the house, to be picked up later, of course, when I find that I have run out of clean mugs.

 The next thing in matters of change is my sudden love for Rasam. Either it is to do with the fact that I am growing old, or the steaming cup of tomato-ey spicy liquid pairs well with the Bangalore weather or it is to do with the sour tomatoes that I'm growing in my terrace garden that lend themselves quite beautifully to this.

First two homegrown tomatoes

 I've always maintained that I am a Sambar-person. If there is Sambar and Rasam made at home, I would rather have two helpings of rice with sambar and leave the rasam alone, without a second glance, like a Bottega Veneta lady shunning a Hidesign bag. In fact, when I am visiting my parents and my mom makes just rasam and no sambar, I squarely point it out to her on how she is favouring my sister over me. Needless to say, the sister is a rasam-person. So yes, I have started making a mean rasam, which is not in anyway to blow the trumpet (or saxophone) about my culinary genius, but simply a matter of practice. Yes, that's how often I've been making rasam. If you followed me on Twitter, you'd know. Looks like I have already hit upon the topic of my next blog post. Byebye blogger's block!

Dill growing wild

Apart from the vegetables like brinjals, tomatoes (okay, it is a fruit), okra and carrots- we're being adventurous and trying to grow strawberries on our terrace garden. The gardening experts tell us we can expect to eat some fruit by November, I'm praying the ants don't get to them before I do. 

Strawberry patch

There's dwarf lemons and a dwarf chikoo too, on the terrace garden. Just yesterday, a Cherry bush has been added to the fruit family in the hope that we can eat some homegrown fruit if we are patient enough to care for the trees over the next 2-3 years. Or at least, do the birds some social service.

Sapota

The first to be harvested from the garden was the most sweet smelling lush green coriander and the chutney made using those homegrown leaves tasted most amazing. 

Coriander Flowers

If you have the tiny bit of space, even for a couple of pots, or a tiny area of soil where you can sow some seeds, do it. The sheer joy of watching your food grow from the seed and the joy of turning it into a dish for your family is quite unparalleled. Try sprinkling a few kitchen seeds like mustard or fenugreek into good soil and watch the magic unfold :)

Mustard greens some ten days after sowing seeds

I write a monthly column for Sunday DNA called Tiny Tummies. Here is the link to my page there.


For more gardening / food updates - do follow my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail




All pics above, taken on on the iPhone (yeah, lazy me thanks to Bangalore weather), processed on the free app Instagram. If you are an iPhone user and you haven't downloaded this app, you've been missing some fine things in life. Here's my Instagram feed.


Now that I've managed to break the long silence, I shall be back soon.


Related reads :


Veggies at home
Herb Mentality - Growing herbs and home and ways to use them

Hello from Bangalore, finally

Posted by admin

Namaskara! Ten weeks after moving to my final destination, I think I am converted. The always-pleasant weather, living away from the bustle of the main city roads, the slow life- it has totally seeped into me. The way Mumbai spoils you with its sheer pace of life and the pace of getting things done, Bangalore spoils you with the weather and the slow life. I don't think I must have complained about the weather more than a couple of times in the last two months, which is a pretty neat record for the weather-cribber in me. 


A couple more things have changed in the last few weeks. 





All my adult life, I have been a morning tea person, unless someone made a steaming hot filter kaapi for me. Lately, tea just doesn't cut it first thing in the morning. My brain cells seem to ask for a stronger dose of caffeine than what comes in a cup of tea.  No, I'm not importing 'kaapi-podi' from ChennaiMadras. The Bayar's brand (not a paid promotion) available in most supermarkets in Bangalore seems to hit the spot neatly. Many people swear by Cotha's but I find the grind quite coarse for my coffee filters.

Before you assume it, no, I haven't given up on tea, not at all. It is simply used to fill up the empty moments in the day, rather than as a morning kickstart. Ginger-ed, lemongrass-ed, cardamom-ed, simple green tea, just about every kind of tea depending on the mood, and of course the weather, leaving empty mugs around in every corner of the house, to be picked up later, of course, when I find that I have run out of clean mugs.

 The next thing in matters of change is my sudden love for Rasam. Either it is to do with the fact that I am growing old, or the steaming cup of tomato-ey spicy liquid pairs well with the Bangalore weather or it is to do with the sour tomatoes that I'm growing in my terrace garden that lend themselves quite beautifully to this.

First two homegrown tomatoes

 I've always maintained that I am a Sambar-person. If there is Sambar and Rasam made at home, I would rather have two helpings of rice with sambar and leave the rasam alone, without a second glance, like a Bottega Veneta lady shunning a Hidesign bag. In fact, when I am visiting my parents and my mom makes just rasam and no sambar, I squarely point it out to her on how she is favouring my sister over me. Needless to say, the sister is a rasam-person. So yes, I have started making a mean rasam, which is not in anyway to blow the trumpet (or saxophone) about my culinary genius, but simply a matter of practice. Yes, that's how often I've been making rasam. If you followed me on Twitter, you'd know. Looks like I have already hit upon the topic of my next blog post. Byebye blogger's block!

Dill growing wild

Apart from the vegetables like brinjals, tomatoes (okay, it is a fruit), okra and carrots- we're being adventurous and trying to grow strawberries on our terrace garden. The gardening experts tell us we can expect to eat some fruit by November, I'm praying the ants don't get to them before I do. 

Strawberry patch

There's dwarf lemons and a dwarf chikoo too, on the terrace garden. Just yesterday, a Cherry bush has been added to the fruit family in the hope that we can eat some homegrown fruit if we are patient enough to care for the trees over the next 2-3 years. Or at least, do the birds some social service.

Sapota

The first to be harvested from the garden was the most sweet smelling lush green coriander and the chutney made using those homegrown leaves tasted most amazing. 

Coriander Flowers

If you have the tiny bit of space, even for a couple of pots, or a tiny area of soil where you can sow some seeds, do it. The sheer joy of watching your food grow from the seed and the joy of turning it into a dish for your family is quite unparalleled. Try sprinkling a few kitchen seeds like mustard or fenugreek into good soil and watch the magic unfold :)

Mustard greens some ten days after sowing seeds

I write a monthly column for Sunday DNA called Tiny Tummies. Here is the link to my page there.


For more gardening / food updates - do follow my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail




All pics above, taken on on the iPhone (yeah, lazy me thanks to Bangalore weather), processed on the free app Instagram. If you are an iPhone user and you haven't downloaded this app, you've been missing some fine things in life. Here's my Instagram feed.


Now that I've managed to break the long silence, I shall be back soon.


Related reads :


Veggies at home
Herb Mentality - Growing herbs and home and ways to use them