Beans Dry Curry (Poriyal)

In South India, especially in Tamilnadu, poriyal or the dry curry forms an integral part of the full-course meals. In most of the marriages and celebrations, there will be more than one poriyal on your plate/banyan leaf, each of them of a contrasting taste, thus giving a variety! Also, depending on the gravy or sambar or kozhambu, the poriyal vegetable varies. Like, all spicy poriyals go well with midly spiced gravies and vice-versa.

Now we had enough in-sight on the poriyal history, here goes our traditional "Beans poriyal" recipe.

Beans Poriyal
Beans cooked with mild spices and garnished with coconut scrapes
Serves 2

What we need:

Green Beans - 1/2 Kg (also called French beans)
Fresh Coconut, scraped - 5 to 6 tbsp.

Water - as needed

Salt - as needed

For tempering:
Oil - 3 to 4 tbsp.

Mustard - 2 tbsp.

Cumin (Jeera) seeds - 2 tbsp.
Red Chillies - 3 to 4

Broken Urad dal - 3 tbsp.

How to do:
1. Wash, clean and cut the beans.

2. Heat oil in kadai and add the mustard. When it starts to sputter, add broken urad dal, cumin and red chillies.

3. Fry for a minute and add the cut beans. Sprinkle enough water on the beans and cover the pan. Leave for about 3 to 5 minutes

4. By now, almost all water should be absorbed. Sprinkle some more water. Repeat this for 2 or 3 times until the beans are cooked.

5. Now add salt and granish with the coconut. Remove from flame.

Note: Coconut oil tastes best for this type of poriyal. If you are in a hurry, you can steam the beans before-hand and reduce the cooking time.

Serve with rice and any spicy kozhambu.