Beans Paruppusuli

Paruppusili is an authentic south-Indian curry made with steamed lentils & vegetables. This special curry is the spicier variation from regular curries and is inevitable in a wedding menu. This serves as a perfect side for morkuzhambu but, I personally like it with rasam rice.

You can also use plantain flower / cabbage / cluster beans in place of green beans. I usually use 50:50 mix of toor dal and channa dal for the usili, but it would be just as okay to use only channa dal too!

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium

Prep time - 20 mins

Cook time - 30 mins

Serves - 3-4

Ingredients
Green beans - 2-3 cups
Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Toor dal - 1/4 cup
Red chillies - 2 nos
Green chillies - 1 no
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Oil & Salt - to taste
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Split urid dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - Few

Method
Wash and soak channa dal & toor dal for an hour.

Drain the water and grind the soaked dal along with red chillies, green chillies, salt and hing coarsely (only sprinkle water while grinding).

Take a microwave bowl, grease it with a tsp of oil and microwave the ground mixture for about 2 mins. Stir the mixture well using a spoon every 30 mins. The basic idea is to steam the ground paste. My mom usually makes small balls out of the ground paste and steams them in idli steamer / pressure cooker. Microwaving seems to be an easier option for me. Once cooked, remove the mixture from microwave and let it cool.

In the meanwhile, cook beans separately with 3/4 tsp of salt by sprinkling water every now & then until soft & cooked. Take care to not overcook the beans (or) make it watery.

Now, beans & dal mixture are separately cooked and ready. Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat about 1-2 tsp of oil. After the oil is heated, splutter mustard seeds, fry split urid dal until brown, and add curry leaves. To this, add the cooked dal mixture by crumbling them into fine pieces with hands. 

Saute until the dal mixture is roasted and gets a crunchier texture. Then, add the cooked beans to it and give a good mix. Adjust salt and remove from heat after couple of mins. 

Beans paruppusili is ready to be served.