Recipe: Punjabi Aloo Beans Subzi

(Skip this paragraph if you want because it’s unrelated and could possibly remove your appetite, lol)
Have you ever gutted a fish? My mom got a fish for Chinese New Year (“every year have fish” in Chinese sounds the same as “every year have surplus money”, so it is a MUST for Chinese New Year!) from her friend who went fishing.. and while gutting it, in its stomach, there were many little fish that it ate! EWWWWWWWWW… Good thing I didn’t see it XD

Anyways, here’s a nice Indian vegetarian dish… It tastes really really delicious and fragrant. I’ve been making so much Indian food during the Chinese New Year, hehe. Originally, I was going to make green beans poriyal, which I already posted. However, I ran out of coconut cause I made rava ladoos (yum! I could post that recipe if you want) so I decided to make another green beans dish. I found this one which looked amazing! It uses minimal ingredients to produce a super delicious dish. This type of dish is a common Punjabi home cooking made from sauteing vegetables in oil without water for a long time until cooked. As a result, the vegetables are really tasty and umami-filled, but it takes a pretty long time to make! Anyways, this method of cooking is almost identical to the Sichuanese method of 干煸 (gan bian, “gun byehn”)! The difference is that Indian spices are added, of course. The spices are very basic and are the most common Punjabi spices. The only hard to find one is the amchur powder. You can use lemon juice instead.

Adapted from Veg Recipes of India

Ingredients:
about 250 grams green beans (AKA French beans, string beans, in India: beans)
about 450 grams potatoes
2-3 tbsp oil or ghee (I used 1/2 oil and 1/2 ghee. The more oil the better.)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder (use regular Indian red chili powder for a spicy dish)
1/2 tsp salt (to taste, use less for low-sodium)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp Amchur powder AKA dry sour green mango powder (to taste) (I don’t have it, so I substitute 2-3 tsp lemon juice or to taste, depending on sourness of lemon)

Directions:
1. Peel potatoes if necessary (peel russet, don’t peel the smaller red potatoes). Cut in half and slice 1/4 inch thick slices.
Remove the hard end of the green beans. Cut into 2 inch long pieces.
2. Heat a kadai (a type of Indian pan shaped sort of like a wok, you can use a wok) or a pan. Note: A pan that is not nonstick, the potatoes will stick like CRAZY. Even my wonderful STAUB Perfect Pan.
3. Once hot, add oil/ghee.
4. Add potatoes and lay in an even layer. Cook over medium high to high for a couple minutes.
5. Then flip potatoes and mix lightly, cook another couple minutes. Continue to cook 3-4 minutes stirring once in a while. During this time, slowly decrease the heat to medium.
6. Add the green beans and mix well over high heat. Once you think it’s hot, lower to medium high. Cook in the same way as the potatoes for 8-10 minutes. During this time, slowly decrease the heat to medium. TIP: Cover the pan to cook better, but it creates moisture, so the traditional recipe doesn’t cover.
7. The vegetables should be partway cooked by now. Today I used red potatoes which cook faster and easier and the green beans were tender and thin. Sometimes these vegetables take forever to cook. In this case you must cook longer.
8. Add the turmeric, red chili powder, and salt. Stir well and continue to cook in the same way over medium heat for 8-10 minutes until tender. I did not cover the lid during this time because the vegetables were almost cooked.
9. Add garam masala and amchur (or lemon juice). Stir well and cook 1 minute. Taste. If necessary, add more of a spice or salt to taste.
10. Serve preferably with rotis/chapatis and plain yogurt, perhaps with a dal on the side for protein. I never feel like making rotis/chapatis because it takes me too long and mine are not very tasty… So I served with rice, hehe. Sometimes I cheat and use tortillas from the store instead of rotis 🙂
Enjoy!