Green beans Usili

Paruppu usili is a common side dish in Tamil Brahmin households. Combination of soaked lentils (dals) are ground to paste, steamed and then crumbled. Crumble is then cooked with a vegetable and green beans is a comonly used vegetable.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine South Indian, Tamil Cuisine

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Servings

Calories 175kcal

Author Usha Rao

Equipment

1 Steamer to cook lentils
1 Saucepan to cook beans
1 Frying Pan
1 Food processor or a mixie
1 Cutting board & a knife

Ingredients

Paruppu Usili

2 ½ tablespoon Toor Dal approximately ⅙ cup
2 ½ tablespoon Chana Dal approximately ⅙: cup
4 Dry Red Chilies adjust to taste
½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
⅛ teaspoon Hing ~ Asafetida

Vegetable

340 grams Green Beans
½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
Pinch of Turmeric

Beans Paruppu Usili

2 tablespoon Oil
½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
¼ teaspoon Cumin
Paruppu Usili
Green Beans or Cluster Beans
¾ teaspoon Chili Powder adjust to taste and this is my addition

Instructions

Paruppu Usili

Wash and soak chana dal & toor dal for 1-2 hours or 3 hours, if time permits.
2 ½ tablespoon Toor Dal, 2 ½ tablespoon Chana Dal
Grind the dal with red chilies, salt and hing. I used very little water but it can be ground even without water. If one wishes, they can add a few curry leaves as well.
4 Dry Red Chilies, ½ teaspoon Salt, ⅛ teaspoon Hing ~ Asafetida
Transfer ground dal to a steamer and steam.
Bring about 1 cup of water to a boil in a saucepan to steam the ground lentils paste. Steam ground dal for 10 minutes or until the paste forms a thick lump/cake and the dal is cooked. Turn off the heat and let cool.
Once the steamed lentils cool down, crumble it using a clean hand or pulse it in a food processor. I used my hands. If using a food processor or a mixie, do not over process or grind the dal. It could become a paste, which we do not want.

Cooking Beans

Take chopped beans, salt and turmeric in a pot with about ½ cup of water, cook until beans are tender and most of the water evaporates. This takes about 10 minutes. Alternative is to steam beans in a steamer basket.
340 grams Green Beans, ½ teaspoon Salt, Pinch of Turmeric

Green Beans Usili

Take oil in a pan, when hot, add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
2 tablespoon Oil, ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
Add crumbled dal and saute for a few minutes until crumbled dal changes color.
Add beans and saute for a few minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add about ¾ teaspoon of chili powder or as needed.
¾ teaspoon Chili Powder
Once the vegetable and dal crumble are mixed and lightly sauteed, turn off the heat. Serve with rice. I paired it with some rasam.

Notes

Dals - I used ⅙ cup each of toor and chana dal but can use up to ¼ cup of each dal.
Steaming - recipe calls for using a streaming g plate to steam ground lentils. An alternative utensil is an idli steamer. Another option is pressure cooking for 3-4 whistles and then pulse in a food processor.
Cooking Beans - recipe calls for cooking beans and dal separately. However, you can pressure cook both these in a pressure cooker using pot in pot method.
Instant Usili - I saw a Facebook post for instant usili preparation. According to that post, dry roast lentils, grind with dry chilies to coarse powder, add little water and salt to the powder, and microwave the mixture for a few minutes. Instant usili is ready and this eliminates soaking the dal step. This sounds like a great shortcut but I have not tried it yet.
Nutrition - Information below is approximate.

Nutrition