My kids love shenga chutney pitto , probably that is the only way they eat peanuts without a fuss. So I have been thinking to use similar combination with vegetables. I have seen my Marathi friends adding a peanut powder to raitas, green beans and some other vegetables. So I prepared this nutty green beans last week and it was received pretty well, the two year old was pretty excited to (atleast) try the green beans.
A complete thali with ambat(dal), rice, fish fry, buttermilk chilli, spiced buttermilk
The roasted peanuts gave a nutty sweetish taste to otherwise spicy dish. The ginger gave a very good flavor to the beans. I am so used to adding potatoes to green beans, I feel potatoes pair really well with them. Today when I prepared the same dish, I added some chutney pitto to it instead of making the peanut-coconut powder. This was a good way to get some vegetables and also protein into the little tummies.
Pictorial: Dry roast peanuts and coconut and make a powder. Heat oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal followed by curry leaves, ginger, onion. Add green beans, potatoes and spices. When cooked, add the nut powder.
Nutty Green Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups green beans use tender beans
- 1 cup peeled and chopped potatoes optional
- 2 tbl spns peanuts
- 1 tbl spn dry coconut
- 1 tea spn grated ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tea spn red chilli powder
- A pinch turmeric
- 1/2 tea spn coriander powder
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 1/2 tea spn urad dal
- 5-6 curry leaves
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Dry roast peanut till they are brownish and then add dry coconut(or dessicated coconut).
- Roast till coconut is brownish.
- Grind them to a coarse powder and keep it aside.
- Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
- When they start popping, add urad dal.
- Fry for a min and then add curry leaves, ginger.
- Then add onion and fry till brownish.
- Add green beans, potatoes, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder and salt.
- Mix everything well.
- Cover and cook on a medium-low flame till the beans and potatoes are cooked.
- Make sure to cook on low heat, since there is no water added, it will get burnt if cooked on high.
- Add the peanut-coconut powder and mix well.
- Cook for another 1-2mins.
- Take off heat and serve hot as a sidedish with rice or chapati.
Notes: Roast a big batch of peanuts and make a coarse powder. Use this in various dishes like this to save time Instead of using dry coconut, use freshly grated coconut in the recipe
Nutty Green Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups green beans use tender beans
- 1 cup peeled and chopped potatoes optional
- 2 tbl spns peanuts
- 1 tbl spn dry coconut
- 1 tea spn grated ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tea spn red chilli powder
- A pinch turmeric
- 1/2 tea spn coriander powder
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 1/2 tea spn urad dal
- 5-6 curry leaves
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Dry roast peanut till they are brownish and then add dry coconut(or dessicated coconut).
- Roast till coconut is brownish.
- Grind them to a coarse powder and keep it aside.
- Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
- When they start popping, add urad dal.
- Fry for a min and then add curry leaves, ginger.
- Then add onion and fry till brownish.
- Add green beans, potatoes, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder and salt.
- Mix everything well.
- Cover and cook on a medium-low flame till the beans and potatoes are cooked.
- Make sure to cook on low heat, since there is no water added, it will get burnt if cooked on high.
- Add the peanut-coconut powder and mix well.
- Cook for another 1-2mins.
- Take off heat and serve hot as a sidedish with rice or chapati.
Wish you all a very happy and colorful Holi. The festival of color is around the corner and I could not think of a better sweet than this Bottlegourd halwa or gardudde halvo . Aayi prepared this for us during Diwali and it was so delicious.
Bottle gourd was rarely bought at home when we were growing up. I would almost always ask aayi to make burfi(khadi) from it. I could eat it anytime. This is definitely an easier version of the same. Then we started hearing about the health benefits on TV. Ever since then I have been using it regularly. I normally make a quick dal or some spicy dish from it.
For halwa, grated bottlegourd is cooked in milk, which gives a fantastic aroma. Then the nuts and cardamom brings that divine aroma. Pictorial: Peel and remove seeds from bottle gourd. Then grate it.
Add milk, cashews and cook. When milk is absorbed, add jaggery.
Cook till all the jaggery is melted and well mixed. Take off heat and add cardamom powder.
Bottlegourd Halwa (Gardudde Halvo)
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated bottle gourd
- 1 cup milk
- 1 and 1/2 cup jaggery
- 1 tbl spn cashews optional
- 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
Instructions
- Peel, remove seeds and grate bottle gourd.
- Cook cashews and grated bottle gourd with milk. (It looks like the milk curdled but that is the expected result.)
- When all the milk is absorbed, add jaggery.
- Cook till jaggery is all melted. Mix it well.
- Take off heat, add cardamom powder , mix well.
- Serve warm or chilled.
