Sometime back I read that on an average a person gains around 5 pounds of weight during the holiday season. I don’t know how accurate this is, but I can feel all my jeans and dresses getting tighter. Urghh 🙁 Seriously how easy it is to pile on rounds, if only it was that easy to lose them. I ate way too many desserts, like way too many! It’s time to pull up my socks and hit the gym. YES! How was your weekend? Fun? Relaxing? I just slept and slept some more. This rainy grey weather makes me want to curl up in my bed all the time. I can’t wait for summers!
These days I only feel like eating simple homemade food. Simply because I ate out all the time during the holidays and so right now I am kind of fed up of the outside stuff. For me simple homemade food always includes dals (lentils), vegetable stir fry with roti, the good old Indian flatbread. Everyone loves potato in India, wait let me rephrase this sentence – potatoes are loved universally. Whether it’s baked potatoes, fries, wedges, hash browns or roasted the truth is we all need some potato love in our lives!
This potato and beans stir fry [popularly known as aloo beans, aloo=potato in Hindi] is super simple to make with minimal spices and ingredients. You know how I always say that I grew up eating vegan food without even realizing that it was vegan! The concept of Veganism has become hugely popular now but back then nobody knew about it in India and even then we ate Vegan food! Of course we had milk/yogurt in our diets so it wasn’t 100% vegan but our everyday meals of lentils, veggies and breads were all vegan.
Aloo beans tastes great with plain old roti. I made this a while back but didn’t get the opportunity to post this until now. I thought it is the right time to share this recipe, now that we all want to eat something simple and homemade : )
Method
In a pan heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add cumin and mustard seeds and let them crackle.
Once the seeds crackle add the chopped onion and curry leaves. Saute till onion becomes translucent, around 2 minutes.
Add red chili powder, turmeric powder and dried mango powder (amchur) and mix. Cook the spices with the onion for a minute or two.
Add the sliced potatoes next.
Mix the potatoes so that they are well coated with the onion and spice mixture.
Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook on medium heat till slightly tender [but not completely cooked], around 2-3 minutes. I sliced the potatoes thinly and hence they cooked faster.
Now add the chopped green beans, salt and mix. Cover and cook till beans are tender and done. The potatoes will also be completely cooked by now.
Sprinkle garam masala powder and mix.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with roti. You can also eat it with naan, pita bread or paratha.
* Adjust spice levels to taste.
* Cut the potatoes into thin slices. They cook faster that way.
Aloo Beans
Ingredients
- 200 gram green beans chopped into small pieces
- 2 potatoes medium, sliced
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 5 curry leaves
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ⅛ teaspoon dried mango powder [amchur]
- salt to taste
- coriander leaves chopped, for garnishing
Instructions
- In a pan heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil on medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add cumin and mustard seeds and let them crackle.
- Once the seeds crackle add the chopped onion and curry leaves. Saute till onion becomes translucent, around 2 minutes.
- Add red chili powder, turmeric powder and dried mango powder (amchur) and mix.
- Cook the spices with the onion for a minute or two.
- Add the sliced potatoes next and mix so that they are well coated with the onion and spice mixture.
- Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook on medium heat till slightly tender [but not completely cooked], around 2-3 minutes.
- Now add the chopped green beans, salt and mix.
- Cover and cook till beans are tender and done. The potatoes will also be completely cooked by now.
- Sprinkle garam masala powder and mix.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately with naan or roti.
Nutrition
Great recipe! I’ve made it many times. Thanks!
What an easy, lovely, healthy dish! All were satisfied. On a lark, I topped mine with some spicy pickled lime––went great with it! Thanks, Manali!
welcome Kevin!
Never have I seen dried mango powder before – curious to know what the addition tastes like. These aloo beans just look so flavoursome Manali!
it gives a tangy flavor to the dish…you can add lemon juice in place!