Yesterday I went to Alstede Farm with some of my blogging friends Pavani, Mireille, Nisha & Rajani. I met Rajani for the first time and she is such a friendly person that I felt I had known her all my life. This was also my first going to a farm here in the US and it was fun picking produce with food bloggers. I was more excited to meet my fellow bloggers than picking some produce. The farm was very big and once I got there, I wanted to pick everything in the farm. I had to control myself and picked as little as I could as it would be difficult to carry back home. Mireille and I took a train to the farm and I did not want to pick too much as I had to carry it back home in a train. Though I did not pick much, my hands and shoulders were sore by the time I got home. This was my pick yesterday and clicked it for my photo blog.

I picked some green, yellow and purple beans. This was the first time I bought yellow and purple beans and I wanted to make a salad. Husband wanted a stir fry and ended up making a mixed beans dry curry. Purple beans turned into green when cooked and yellow beans were soft and little sweetish yet, tasted good. I served it with some roti.

Total Time: 17 – 25 minutes
Preparation: 5 – 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 – 15 minute
Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients:

• 1 – 2 tbsp. Oil
• ¼ – ½ tsp. Cumin Seeds
• ½ small Onion
• 3 -4 Curry Leaves
• 3 – 4 Green Chilies (adjust to taste)
• 1 – 1 ½ tsp. minced Garlic
• ¼ – ½ tsp. Turmeric Powder
• ¾ – 1 tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
• ¼ tsp. Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
• 22 – 25 Green Beans
• 22 – 25 Yellow Beans
• 12 – 15 Purple Beans
• Cilantro to garnish

Preparation:

• Wash and trim the tips of the beans. Cut the beans into ½” – ¾” pieces. Chop onions, cut green chilies and tear curry leaves into 2-3 pieces.
• Heat oil in a pan, add cumin and let the seeds change color.
• Add onions sauté until soft.
• Add green chilies, minced garlic and sauté until chilies change color.
• Add chili powder if using, salt, turmeric and stir.
• Add beans, stir until tempering is well coated, cover and cook on medium high flame for 2-3 minutes.
• Remove cover, stir, reduce the flame to medium – medium low flame, cover again and cook until beans are tender. This should take about 5 minutes. Stir beans in between.
• Once the beans is tender, uncover and fry for a minute or two until beans is done. I like my beans crunchy and if one likes very soft beans, cook a little longer.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or roti.

Suggestion:

• I used tri color beans but one can also use only green beans. Usually for green beans fry, I cut the beans to ¼” pieces. Since I was using yellow and purple beans, I cut the beans into bigger pieces. I wanted the colors of the beans to be clearly visible.