Here I am posting sidedishes prepared with 3 kind of beans. I clubbed them because all the three have the same procedure. But they have very different tastes because of the different kind of beans used. These are very tasty and can be mastered easily (recommended for newbies).
Most of my Kannada friends didn’t know this kind of sidedish. They usually fried beans instead of cooking them. I loved this procedure because, it retains the aroma of beans and gave a distinguishing taste to the sidedish. Following are the differnt types of beans I used and the pictures of the sidedishes(called as ‘upkari’ in konkani).
Green beans (we call them as beans in Konkani also) but some people call them as French beans or Farasbee (This name I got from Lakshmi’s comment and Vaishali’s post )
Beans upkari
Valasangi(Konkani) is also called as alsande, chawlichya shenga, yardlong beans or cow pea beans (Thanks Vaishali for the different names of this vegetable ).
Valasangi upkari
Chitmitki(Konkani) is also called as mitkesaang or Gawar/Gaur or Cluster beans. These have a slight tinge of bitter taste to them. Unlike the other beans (which are usually cut using a knife), these are broken into pieces by hand to remove the threads (which are usually found along the sides of these beans).
Chitmitki upkari
Ingredients: Beans or valasangi or chitmitki 2 cups Potato (cut into small squares) 1 cup Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn Jaggery(optional) 1/2 tea spn Green chillies 4-5 Curry leaves(optional) 4-5 Asafoetida a pinch Oil 1/2 tea spn Coconut(fresh/frozen)(optional) 1 tbl spn Turmeric (optional) a pinch Salt
As far as I know, turmeric is not added to this dish. But since it is good for health and usually does not affect the taste, I add a pinch whenever I remember.
Method: Cook beans and potato in pressure cooker (this speeds up the cooking process). Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida, turmeric, curry leaves and green chilli slits. Fry for around 4-5 seconds and add the cooked beans-potatos. (alternatively, add the uncooked beans and potatoes at this step, add 1/2 cup of water, close the vessel and let it cook. If this method is used, the vegetables take a longer time to cook). Add jaggery, salt and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Garnish with coconut and mix well. Serve as a side dish with rice and any gravy or dal.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 10-15mins
Note: If planning to cook rice, daal and vegetables at a time using the cooker vessels, keep the daal in the bottommost vessel, rice in the middle and vegetables in the top. Any other combination will leave daal or rice uncooked and vegetables mashed. I recommend to purchase the cooker vessels (3 vessels which fit into cooker, with one vessel slightly bigger than other two. This speeds up cooking).
Few days back, I was talking to one of my friends, who has just learnt cooking. He asked me – why I have not posted very basic recipes like Omelet, Burji, Bullseye (egg half fry). I said those are very basic things and everybody knows about them. Then I gave it a thought, I still remember when I was studying in high school, I didn’t know how to make a cup of tea. One day my parents had to go out and my dad gave me all the instructions to make tea for my grandfather. I was very scared to go near the gas stove, I asked mom if she could make the tea and keep in thermos flask. But for some reason, she could not do it and they left me with grandfather. Ooh…I know how I was scared when I finally managed to make tea and when grandpa drank it without saying anything, I felt I had done a good job. Then I tasted it and realized how bad it was. It was my bad luck that few of our relatives came home and grandpa asked me to make tea for them. I was silently praying god that they should refuse to drink tea!!!. When they said ‘No’, I felt relieved :). That incident has taught me a lot. So here I am with these basic recipes.
Omelet
I think each person has his/her own recipe for omelet. This is the very basic one. Some people add tomatoes, coriander leaves to it. But if I ask any guy who has studied in Belgaum for his favorite Omelet, he will say it is the one available at railway station. All the students eat this at midnight at this gadiwala. I heard from my brother that the gadiwala used to add some kind of chutney powder (chutney podi) to it. Since I have never tasted it (I stayed in hostel and the hostel door used to close at 9), I cannot guess the recipe.
Ingredients: Egg 1 Onion (cut into small pieces) 1 tbl spn Green chillies(cut into small rounds) 2 or chilli powder ½ tea spn Tomato(cut into small pieces)(optional) 1 tbl spn Coriander leaves(optional) 2-3 strands Oil/ghee ½ tea spn Salt
I did not add any optional ingredients when I clicked the picture. I used chilli powder instead of green chillies.
Method: Mix onion, tomato, chillies (or chilli powder), chopped coriander and salt with hand (by mixing this well, the taste increases). Now add the egg to it and mix well with spoon. Heat tava. Apply oil or ghee to it. Pour the egg mixture on tava. Lift the tava and tilt it sideways to spread the mixture on tava. Reduce the flame and fry it from both sides.
Burji or scrambled egg
There are many different ways to make burji. Burji can also be prepared with boiled egg . This is the one my Aayi follows.
Ingredients: Eggs 2 Onion(cut into small pieces) 2 tbl spns Tomato(cut into small pieces) 1 tbl spn Green chillies 2-3 Coriander leaves 2-3 strands Oil/ghee ½ tea spn Coconut(fresh or frozen)(optional) 1 tbl spn Coriander powder 1/4 tea spn Salt
Method: Heat oil in a pan(or vessel) and fry onions. When they turn translucent, add chillies(cut into slits) and tomatoes. Fry for a minute and then break the eggs one by one on top of this mixture. Add salt, coriander powder and mix well. Cook for around 3-4 mins till the egg is completely done (no watery thing should be visible). Now add coconut (this gives a very distinguishing smell to burji), coriander leaves and mix well. Cook for a minute.
Bullseye or half fry
I simply love this. Since there are no onions or any other extra things added to this dish, it gets ready within 2mins. Some people fry it from only one side and keep raw on the other side. The main difference between this and Omelette is, here the white and yellow portion of egg is clearly visible after frying (this is because the egg is directly broken on tava, so whisking of egg is not done.
Bullseye is called so because half fried or one side fried egg looks like a big EYE. However when you fry other side, the yolk ruptures and it no more remains Bulls-eye.
Ingredients: Egg 1 Pepper powder ¼ tea spn Oil/ghee ½ tea spn Salt
Method: Heat tava and apply ghee/oil to it. Break the egg and add the contents on the tava. Spread pepper powder and salt on it (more on the yellow part). If raw egg is preferred, serve at this stage without turning. Otherwise, turn it and fry from the other side (when turned, sprinkle some pepper and salt on the yellow liquid part).
