Saturday, September 19, 2009

Happy Dasara and Steamed Green Beans with Moongdal & Senaga Guggillu

Happy Dasara to everyone. I prepared a simple neivedyam as Dasara (navarathri) began today. It included green beans koora, eggplant-tomato sambhar, puliyogare, semiya payasam and senaga guggilu. And today I am posting recipes for a couple of them. The first one is steamed green beans with moongdal.

Beans - PesaraPappu Koora: Green bean is one of my favorite vegetable and so is frequently cooked in my kitchen. I use them in various ways and here is one easier method to cook green beans.

Ingredients:
A fistful of moongdal
2 tsp. canola / peanut oil
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. chana dal / split chickpeas
1 tsp. urad dal / skinned black gram
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
A sprig of curry leaves
4 dried red chilles (more or less to taste.)
1/4 cup shredded fresh / frpzen coconut
Salt to taste
Method:
* Wash and soak a handful of moongdal (skinned, split green lentils) in water for an hour or two. Then drain the water and keep the moongdal aside.
* Wash, trim the ends and chop the green beans into 1/4 inch bits. (String before chopping, if necessary. Usually the beans I find here, need no stringing.)
* Add the chopped beans and about 2 tbsp. of water to a pressure cooker and cook for 2 -3 whistles. When the valve pressure is gone, remove the beans and drain them in a colander.
* Heat oil in a sauté pan. Add chanadal, uraddal, mustard seeds & cumin seeds in that order. When the dals turn reddish, add red chillies ( broken into bits), curry leaves and sauté them for a few seconds. Then add the cooked beans, moongdal, salt and coconut to the pan. Saute them for about 3 to 4 minutes on low flame and turn off the stove.

Now the other recipe is for Senaga Guggillu / Kala Chana Salad. Guggillu / Usli / Sundal or what ever you call them depending upon where you live is nothing but a (South) Indian style bean salad. Dried beans are soaked, cooked till tender and then seasoned with spices and flavored with some shredded, fresh coconut and lime juice at the end. Senagalu - the brown chick peas are one of the favorite beans used to prepare the guggillu. Often served as prasadam at temples in Southern India, this is a fulfilling snack anytime of the day.

For 4 servings, wash and soak 4 fistfuls of dried, black chick peas overnight. In the morning, drain the water, wash the chickpeas twice and cook with about 4 to 6 cups of water in a pressure cooker. After the valve pressure is gone, remove the chickpeas from the cooker. Drain the water and wash the chickpeas with fresh water once or twice. Heat about a tbsp. of canola/peanut oil in a sauté pan. Heat about a tsp. each of chana dal / split chick peas and mustard seeds. When chana dal turns reddish, add a few curry leaves and two finely chopped green chillies. Saute them for about 30 seconds and add cooked chickpeas, 1/4 cup of fresh, shredded coconut , salt and a tbsp. minced cilantro. Saute them for a couple of minutes more. Remove and add juice squeezed from a lemon. Stir well and serve. Kitchen Tip: While buying green beans, make sure they look fresh and green and when bent, they snap with a crisp sound.

Other related posts:
Kala Chana Sprouts Salad
Carrot & Beans with Moongdal

Post a Comment:

2 comments:

  1. Happy Navratri Suma..neivedyam look very good

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  2. Awesome pics I must say. And since the pics are so clear one can guess how good the dish must be.

    Wishing u & ur family a very Happy Dussehra. Have a very good time with everyone & prepare lots & lots of dishes & post them all for us.

    Love,
    Ash..........

    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

    ReplyDelete