Beans Paruppu Usli

Paruppu Usli is a traditional recipe of Tamilnadu. This dish is made with many vegetables like French Beans, Cluster Beans, Plantain Flower etc. And if there is no vegetable in hand, this dish is made as a simple plain Paruppu Usli. This dish is basically a blend of spiced ground lentils and vegetables. Paruppu is Dal and Usli is crumbled. This dish goes as very good side dish for Dal Rice, Sambar Rice, Rasam Rice etc. There are few variations in the method in which we make this dish. We can steam the ground Dal which is a very simple method. And you can also sauté the ground Dal in oil till it gets crumbled which is a long process. The taste of the final Usli will remain same whichever method one adopts. I used Channa Dal only. But we can also use Channa Dal and Urad Dal in equal quantity.

Ingredients:

For Usli:

Channa Dal – ½ cup

Dried Red Chilli – 3

Curry Leaves – from 1 sprig

Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

Salt – to suit one’s taste

Hing – 1/8 tsp

For Beans Paruppu Usli:

French Beans – 250 Gms (finely chopped)

Oil – 2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Urad Dal – 1 tsp

Curry Leaves – from 1 sprig

Green Chillies – 3 (crushed)

Turmeric Powder – 1 pinch

Method:

Wash and soak the Dal and the dried Red Chilli in water for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Drain the water and grind the Dal with Red Chillies and the other ingredients given under the “For Usli” column to a coarse paste without adding any additional water.

Boil water in a broad based vessel. The water level should not be too high. Place a vessel filled with the finely chopped Beans in it. The water level in the broad vessel should be well below the top level of this vessel containing the beans. Grease an idli stand with Oil. Spread the ground paste on this idli stand. Keep this stand on top of the vessel containing the beans. Cover the vessel with a cover and steam for 10 to 12 minutes.

Allow the steamed Dal mixture to cool down. Pulse Grind the mixture in a blender for 10 to 20 seconds.

Heat the Oil in a pan. Add Mustard and Cumin Seeds. When they splutter, add the Urad Dal and roast it to golden brown. Add the Curry Leaves and roast for few seconds. Add the crushed Green Chillies and Turmeric Powder. Roast them in low flame.

Add the steamed French Beans. Adjust Salt, if required since we have already added Salt to the Usli. Add the steamed and crumbled Dal mixture. Mix very well. Sprinkle very little water and mix again. Simmer in low flame for 4 to 5 minutes stirring in between.

Transfer the tasty Beans Paruppu Usli to a serving bowl.