Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Purple Beans with Goda Masala

The farmers market in our neighbourhood is big on beans. Fresh beans of different colors, 15 to 20 of same size bundled together with a rubber band are offered for one dollar or dollar thirty cents. I have been eyeing these purple beans since the beginning of summer, and bought two bundles yesterday. With rich velvet like violet skin, they are weirdly attractive to me.

For tender beans, I snapped them to half-inch length pieces. Mature ones with plump seeds, I saved the seeds and discarded the tough skins. After snapping and shelling, two bundles came about two cups. I blanched the beans first (surprisingly purple paled to green), and did a quick saute to go with chapatis. They had strong soy bean like smell with somewhat flat taste and greatly benefited from generous amounts of goda masala seasoning. All and all, they made a decent curry for chapatis.

Purple Beans from Pike Place Market, Seattle
Purple Beans

Recipe:

2 cups shelled purple beans
1 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons goda masala
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon each – turmeric and salt
for popu or tadka:
1 tablespoon ghee and a pinch each- cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil in a pot. Add the beans and cook them for few minutes until just tender. Drain.

2. Melt the ghee in a wide frying pan. Add and toast the cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add and fry the onion to soft brown. Add the beans. Sprinkle the goda masala, turmeric and salt. Mix thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low and cover and cook for another five minutes or so.

Serve the curry hot with chapatis and a cup of yogurt.


Purple Bean Curry with Chapatis and Carrot-Cucumber-Mint Yogurt Raita ~ Meal Today

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Green Beans (Monday September 10, 2007 at 2:14 pm- permalink)
Comments (12)

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12 comments for Purple Beans with Goda Masala »

  1. Yes, purple okra also turns green when cooked. I buy it sometimes because I can’t resist the color, but it turns khaki in the end…
    🙁

    Comment by Diane — September 10, 2007 @ 2:23 pm

  2. Purple okra, I have seen those as well. I haven’t tried them yet.

    Comment by Indira — September 10, 2007 @ 3:43 pm

  3. why does all the beautiful color change after we cook them :(..never had these purple ones..do they taste the same as green…perhaps just blanching them may keep the color in-tact ?

    Comment by Rajitha — September 10, 2007 @ 3:54 pm

  4. Kudos Indira. You are introducing us to new/varied vegetables. I have never seen purple beans – but I am in VA ..pch!! and Thanks for the link to the scientific meaning. I am wondering why egg plant doesnt change that much..?
    On another matter, did you ever try cooking Jicama? I would like any ideas please. When I first came to US i thught it was like “kandha dumpa” (telugu) and fried it ..it was a yuck! still trying to figure out.
    Lovely Pictures and narration as usual 🙂 I wish i can drive by to grab that Thali! Best,
    -Aparna

    Comment by Aparna — September 10, 2007 @ 5:50 pm

  5. look at it this way. purple beans turn green, purple okra turns green on cooking, but the purple colour in them makes them more nutritioius than green veggies. so yeah, the extra money you’re paying is worth something. and indira, your pic is just a story by itself.

    Comment by bee — September 10, 2007 @ 10:07 pm

  6. Its a different dish, but delicious for sure.

    Comment by Timepass — September 10, 2007 @ 10:13 pm

  7. I tried purple beans recently…I got a mixed lot of purple, yellow and green beans…the taste is far less exciting than the colour in my opinion…but the experience is fun nevertheless…(I too was a tad disappointed when all three beans came out the same khakhi shade 🙁 )
    I strung them and made simple south-indian style sabji with tadka of mustard-cumin-dals-greenchilli and coconut garnish.
    the photos are lovely, as usual, and the addition of goda masala sounds delicious.
    The texture of the raita seems to complement the beans sabji beautifully (both in the pic, and on the tongue in my imagination)

    Comment by aa — September 11, 2007 @ 12:19 am

  8. Hi Indira,
    I have started my blog recently.Your idea of ‘JFI’ helps people to be creative. I have sent recipes for JFI-Coconut and JFI-Rice as a non-blogger. I haven’t tried purple beans. I will give it a try.
    Vijaya

    Comment by Vijaya — September 11, 2007 @ 3:50 am

  9. Indira,

    the green version of these beans is my dad’s and my favorite dish. We had that plant in our house and even though we ate it every other day, we never got tired. Since we had a so many beans growing we made it in every possible combination never with goda masala though. Looks yummy. Reminds me of my childhood.

    Comment by spandana tummuri — September 11, 2007 @ 6:12 am

  10. hii indira,

    pls post the recipes for undarallu and jelledi kayalu 2-3 days before vinayaka chavithi…b’cos i dont know how to make them…it would be very helpfull foe starter like mee.

    please…

    Comment by priya — September 11, 2007 @ 6:57 am

  11. What an sight for sore eyes! Indira, Can you please post the video steps on how you make just basic chapatis? I absolutely love the way yours look and need to get it right.

    Comment by Sandhya — September 11, 2007 @ 9:36 am

  12. Rajitha: They have man-made coloring, I guess that’s why the color is so superficial.
    They have a strong bean smell and flat taste. Green beans definitely win when it comes to taste.
    They turned to khaki green on blanching.

    Aparna: I haven’t tried jicama yet. But I remember seeing few salad recipes at fellow food bloggers place. Try “Food blogs-world” search on M.foodblog list page. Good luck.

    Bee: thanks for the purple philosophy.:)

    Timepass time travels?:) Yes, it was ok-delicious.

    aa: Recently one of our friends sent goda masala, India made. So now, it’s all goda masala, all the time at my home.:)

    Hi Vijaya: Congratualtions on your new blog! Keep up the good work and all the best!

    Spandana: Purple beans have a completely different taste and they are not like our chikkudu kaya(broad beans) of Andhra. Even the seeds tasted soya beanish.

    Hi Priya: I usually prepare neivedyam on festival day, so it may not be possible for me to blog them beforehand. Sorry.

    Sandhya: That seems like a good idea. When I buy a videocamera, I will. Thanks.

    Comment by Indira — September 11, 2007 @ 4:42 pm

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