Black eyed beans or alsande is my all time favourite. Any dish with this gets a distinguishing taste. Here are few interesting traditional uses of black eyed peas.
Ingredients: Coconut 3/4 cup Black eyed peas(alsande) 1/2 cup Yam(surnu)/green banana (Plantain)/potato (cut into bite size pieces) 1/2 cup Red chillies 4-5 Oil 1 tea spn Coriander seeds 1 tea spn Asafoetida a pinch Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn Curry leaves 5-6 Tamarind 1/2 tea spn Salt
Black eyed beans increase in volume after soaking. So use just 1/2 cup. If already soaked one or canned ones are used, increase the amount to 1 cup.
Method: Soak Black eyed beans overnight. Cook beans and potatoes(or taro root or banana) in pressure cooker/microwave till done. Heat oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind with coconut, red chillies and tamarind to a smooth paste. Add the paste to cooked beans-potatoes, add salt, 1/2 cup water and cook for 5-10mins. (This dish is a bit watery. Infact all ‘randayi’ are watery side dishes). Heat oil and fry mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, asafoetida and one red chilli(cut into two). Add this tadka(phanna) to the beans. Mix well. Serve hot as a side dish with rice/chapathi.
Serves : 4 Preparation time : 30min
Beetroot is very rarely used by my mom in her cooking. May be because of its sweetish and a very strong taste. But whenever my dad brought beetroots, she prepared this sasam. This goes well as a side dish with rice. Its texture is something like a chutney. My brother used beetroots very frequently, so even I started using it. Last time when I bought it, my mom gave me this recipe and I absolutely loved the taste. I also loved to eat it as a thick gravy with rice.
Since beetroot is cooked as a normal ‘stir fry’ first and ground into a chutney later, I guess this can be made with the leftover beetroot stir fry also. That way you will not get bored of eating same thing for days ;).
Ingredients: Beetroot 2 Mustard 1/2 tea spn Asafoetida a pinch Green chillies 4-5 Tamarind 1/2 tea spn Coconut 1/2 cup Oil 1 tea spn Salt
Method: Cut beetroot into small pieces (Mom had told me to ‘grate’ beetroot, but since it is ground again after cooking, I chose to cut it, to save time). Heat oil and add mustard. When they start popping, add asafoetida, chillies and beetroot. Add 1/4 cup water and cook till beetroot becomes soft.
Grind coconut, salt and tamarind to paste with minimum water (just like any normal chutney). Now add cooked beetroot and grind again (the beetroot need not become very smooth paste. 2-3 rounds in mixer/blender to coarsely grind the beetroot is enough). Serve as a sidedish with rice.
Serves : 4 Preparation time : 20mins
