Beetroot & Beans Curry

When our state became the second one in US to issue a 'stay at home ' order, I thought now I am going to have plenty of time on my hands. I don't even know why the thought crossed my mind since as a stay at home mom, my life seems to be under a perpetual quarantine as half of our family are not home most of the time and I wasn't planning to make any drastic changes to my current life style. Fast forward a month, I don't even know how the time has been running except that I get to sleep a tad more and I seem to spend more and more time in our kitchen. However the situation has presented an opportunity for the four of us to be under one roof after a long time, at a stretch. 

It turns out however that I was not able to cook anything new for the blog inspite of all the cooking I have been doing. My son hasn't spent this much of time at home in the past four years and my husband who is mostly away on weekdays has been enjoying his stay as well. All we are craving are simple home style Indian  meals with rice / roti, vegetables and lentil based dishes. This curry is a part of one such simple meal that is filling and nutritious. I have combined chopped beets and beans here. Feel free to substitute any other vegetables that you have on hand. You can omit one of these vegetables and replace it with carrots. Cabbage and green peas, potato with cauliflower or bell pepper or eggplant are some of the popular combos. Or can make a curry combining more vegetables like carrot, beans, chayote, potatoes and cabbage. It goes good with either plain rice and a dollop of ghee or rotis.

Ingredients:
1 cup peeled and chopped beetroot cubes
1 cup stringed and finely chopped beans
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. split chickpeas / chana dal
1 tsp skinned black gram / urad dal
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
1 sprig of curry leaves
1/4 - 1/2 cup of shredded fresh / frozen coconut
Salt to taste
Red chili powder to taste

Directions:
* Pressure cook the vegetables adding a little water, for 3 whistles.
* Heat oil in a pan and add split chick peas, black gram, mustard seeds and cumin seeds in that order. When the split chickpeas and black gram start to turn reddish, add turmeric and curry leaves. (If the vegetables are not pressure cooked, they can be added now along with the salt. Cover and cook on low flame, stirring in between until the vegetables are tender. A little water can be sprinkled in between if needed.)
* Saute once and add the cooked vegetables, coconut, salt and chili powder. (I add the water used to pressure cook the vegetables as well if it is little in quantity.)
* Mix the ingredients well once and taste to adjust any seasoning if needed. Cook on low flame for about 4 to 5 minutes or until all the water evaporates and turn off the stove.
* Serve it along with rice or rotis and any leftovers can be refrigerated.

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