BEAN LEAF STIR FRY

BEAN LEAF STIR FRY

I love kitchen gardening though in a small way. In my balcony, I have a small kitchen garden with okra, tomato and bean creepers. As these long bean leaves are edible and are very tasty when stir fried. Long beans are very common in markets. As this beans plant doesn't need any maintenance or much care, it is easily planted and grown. The bean leaves are smooth textured with a nice flavor. Bean leaf stir fry / payar ila thoran , bean leaf curry / payar ila curry, bean leaf soup are some of the common recipes with bean leaves. In Kerala, bean leaf is chopped finely and cooked along with coconut condiment and other spices to make a stir fry recipe. This dry side dish is popularly known as payar ila thoran / payar ila chammanti in Kerala. A very tasty side dish to have along with steamed rice. 

INGREDIENTS

Long bean leaf                   - 4 cups when chopped

For coconut condiment

Scraped coconut

Shallots

Green chilies or kanthari mulaku

Salt

PREPARATION

squeezed bean leaves

• Wash the bean leaves well and set aside to drain.
• Now take the leaves in a bunch (discarding the stem) and chop them thinly as shown in the pic. (it is time consuming)
• Now add this chopped bean leaves in a pressure cooker along with 1 cup of water (do not add more). Pressure cook it for 3 whistles. When done, drain the water (you can add salt in this water and drink. it is tasty and very healthy too)
• When it slightly cool, squeeze the leaves by pressing tightly with your hands. Like so, squeeze the water in leaves completely. Set aside this leaves.
• Now make coconut condiment (thenga chammanti) by pulsing all ingredients given under ' for coconut condiment '. When done, set aside.
• Now heat a pan. Add this squeezed bean leaves along with coconut condiment. Stir well to combine. Stir fry for few minutes and remove from flame. Check for salt (add less salt for stir fried veggies).
• Serve along with rice, sambar, fish fry etc