Green Beans Paruppu Usili Recipe
Green Beans Paruppu Usili is a crumbly yet soft side dish/ curry that is prepared with green beans and steamed toor dal. You can also pack it for your Lunch Box.
Green Beans Paruppu Usili is a common accompaniment or karamadhu (poriyal) that is served in Tamil style weddings. Not once have I come across a wedding that did not serve this truly wonderful dish. The specialty of this dish is the grainy texture, it is soft to chew, yet it looks very granular and dry.
In certain Iyengar (Tambrahm) households, Paruppu Usili is referred to as Paruppu Araichu, because the lentils are soaked and ground to a coarse paste, hence the name. In thamizh Araichi means "to grind”.
Serve Green Beans Paruppu Usili along with Mixed Vegetable Sambar and Steamed Rice for a weekday meal.
If you like this recipe, you can also try other Green Beans recipes such as
30 M
20 M
50 M
4 Servings
Ingredients
- 200 grams Green beans (French Beans) , cut into half inch pieces
- Salt , to taste
- Asafoetida (hing) , a pinch
- 3 tablespoons Cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- Coriander (Dhania) Leaves , as required (for garnish)
- 1 tablespoon Fresh coconut , grated (for garnish), optional For the usilli
- 5 tablespoons Chana dal (Bengal Gram Dal)
- 3 tablespoons Arhar dal (Split Toor Dal)
- 4 Dry red chillies
- Salt , to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Asafoetida (hing)
- Turmeric powder (Haldi) , a pinch
- 6 Curry leaves
- Turmeric powder (Haldi) , a pinch
- 6 Curry leaves
How to make Green Beans Paruppu Usili Recipe
To begin making the Green Beans Paruppu Araichu Recipe, we will first soak the toor dal in water for about 30 minutes.
Once the dal is soaked until soft; drain the excess water.
Into a food processor/mixer, add in the toor and chana dal, adding very little of the water from soaked dals, a teaspoon of asafoetida powder, salt to taste, turmeric powder and one or two halves dried red chillies, you can add more if you like it spicier.
Blend the lentils into a coarse mixture. You want the Paruppu Usili to have a coarse texture when steamed.
Grease the steamer plates or idli plates with a little bit of oil and spoon the ground toor dal (paruppu usili) mixture into the steamer plates.
Place the filled steamer plates into the steamer and steam for 10 minutes on high heat. Once steamed, turn off the heat.
The paruppu usili part is ready. The next step is to cook the green beans.
In a pressure cooker, add the chopped green beans along with 2 tablespoons of water. Sprinkle in a little salt.
Pressure cook the green beans for 2 whistles on high heat, turn off the heat and run the pressure cooker under water to release pressure immediately. The beans will be cooked perfectly without loss of colour and nutrition.
Place a wok or kadai on medium heat and add a teaspoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow it to crackle.
After the seeds have crackled, add 1 pinch of asafoetida and add the cooked green beans and saute well.
Crumble the steamed paruppu usili into the beans and and mix thoroughly. Check for salt and add if necessary
Take it off the heat, garnish it with finely chopped coriander and a handful of freshly grated coconut.
Serve Green Beans Paruppu Usili with Mixed Vegetable Sambar and Steamed Rice for a delicious weekday meal.
Anushaa Ashok
A vegetarian food blogger , who mainly specializes in traditional Iyengar recipes.
