Friday, July 04, 2014

Beans Paruppu Usili | Authentic Brahmin-Style Usili Recipe

'Paruppu Usili' is another authentic South Indian side-dish which features in most festive or celebration meal platters. 'Usili' means scrambled and this is a wonderful combination of a veggie and crumbled lentils. Other than Beans, traditionally, Usili is made with Vaizhapoo (Banana blossom) and Kothavarangaa (Cluster beans). I had seen my mom sautéing the coarsely ground lentil mixture with more oil until it gets cooked and reaches the crumbled state. In this process, one has to keep sautéing continuously to avoid the mixture being burnt. Though it tastes extremely delicious, there is too much oil which makes it unhealthy. But, later my MIL taught me this easy method wherein the soaked lentils are steamed first before proceeding to saute thereby consuming very less oil. Hence this version is what I follow as it is easy on the calorie as well as the hand. 

Blogging Marathon - Wk1, Day2
Theme - South Indian Meal Dishes

Preparation time - 10mins
Soaking time - 1-2hr
Cooking time - 25mins
Serves - 4


Ingredients:-

Green beans - 250gm
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Salt - As needed
Channa dal - 1/4cup
Toor dal - 1/4cup
Red chilli - 3
Green chili - 1
Asafoetida - 1/2tsp

To temper:-
Sesame oil - 2tblsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Curry leaves - A sprig
Coconut oil - 1/2tsp

Method :-

1.  Soak the lentils and red chilli in water for atleast an hour.

2.  Wash and string the green beans and chop them into 1/2cm pieces. Cook in boiling water with salt until just tender and the colour remains bright. To retain colour, make sure to cook uncovered. Strain throughly and set aside.

       

3.  While beans is getting cooked, lets get started with the lentils. Drain water completely, add required salt, green chilli and asafoedtida and grind into a coarse mixture. Dals should be ground, at the same time, not like a paste. Make sure not to use water.   

       

4.  Grease idly moulds with little oil, fill in loosely with the ground dal mixture and steam it for 5-7mins in a pressure cooker (without putting on the weight). Switch it off and let it cool for 5 mins.

5.  Crumble it with hand or alternatively use a dry blender and pulse for just 7-8secs to get a soft crumble.

       

6.  Now, heat oil in a pan, temper with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. Add the prepared dal crumble and sauté for about 10-12mins on medium flame until a nice aroma comes and it is cooked well. The colour too changes to golden. Add the cooked beans and gently toss to coat evenly. Finally, add a dash of asafoetida and a tsp of coconut oil for a wonderful aroma and switch off.

       

Serve with hot rice and any gravy of your choice.This goes best with Arachuvitta Sambar or Vatha kuzhambu. Wow your guests with this authentic lunch menu.


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#42

8 comments :

  1. This is one of my favorite beans' preparation and I too follow the steaming method to cut down the calories. :)

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  2. Beans paruppu usili is my most favorite side dish..at times I do it in MW for a quick one..

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  3. Wow! that is a fantastic preparation! I should try this out soon.

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  4. I can happily have this nutritious usili with a bowl of rasam rice. My all time favourite.

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  5. That's a great side dish..would love to try some.

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  6. This sounds like a healthy and tasty curry !

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  7. I make it the same way. Healthy and tasty!

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