Alsande/Cowpea beans stir fry…

I’m a bean lover… love french beans, runner beans, Alsande or cowpea beans… etc. I have an aunt who eats stir fry’s as a snack once she is done cooking… Until I started cooking, I always wondered how she does it.. ??!!? Now, I do this myself.. 🙂 I always prepare about 50-100 gms more than required for a meal because I end up eating it as a snack,… I can hardly wait till lunch to eat it…

This particular recipe is a favourite.. Back during the times when I was living with friends, we cooked every morning to pack our lunchbox; this was prepared frequently. This is my friend Mridula’s recipe.. She is from Kerala.. I always thought this was a dish from Kerala, since she prepared this often… when I had mentioned this recipe to her after we moved out of the flat we used to live in before we all got married, she was surprised.. she did not even remember this recipe. Upon describing the recipe, she started laughing & said this was her quick fix she had come up with for the lunchbox, as we always woke up late & we never had enough time for complex recipe’s…

I loved this recipe & I always looked forward to carry this in my lunchbox. When I was in Mangalore I prepared this at home & my parents loved this as well… Mum asked me to fix this for lunch today. Before I forget cowpea beans are called Alsande in Konkani & Halsande in Kannada.

This recipe is perfect for those times when you have restrictions on your spice intake. This dish is spiced up by turmeric. The turmeric, curry leaves & the garlic flavour the dish so brilliantly that you do not realise that there are no chilli’s in the dish. A humble vegetable accompaniment for rice & dal. After a tiring day, when all you want is something really simple yet yummy, this will be a perfect choice. I’m sure you will love it.

Ingredients: (Serves 3-4) Preparation Time: 15 – 20 mins
Cowpea beans/ Alsande – 400 – 500 gms, washed, drained & cut into 1 inch pieces
Garlic – 1 small pod, peeled & finely chopped
Turmeric powder – 1/2-3/4 tsp
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Cooking oil – 1.5 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a deep bottom fry pan. Set heat to medium once the oil heats up. Throw in the garlic & sauté it. Once the aroma of garlic fills up the kitchen, add the turmeric powder & mix it in the oil. Add the cowpea beans. Add salt to taste. Mix well. Throw in the curry leaves and mix. Let the beans cook.

All of us at home love it when this is fried till the beans turn a light golden brown in colour. If you don’t like them this way, then turn it off once the beans are cooked.

Garnishing:
Garnish with some additional curry leaves if required.

Best way to relish this..
Some steamed/boiled red rice, dal and pickle… yummy!

If you liked this recipe, you may also like similar recipe’s like – Stir fried Beans with spicy lentils/Beans Kareemdu…., Beans Telasan/ Stir fried beans – Konkani style, Simple yet very comforting!…. Batata Piyava Upkari/Stir fried Potato Onion sabzi…, Adraki Aloo Gobi/Gingery Potato & Cauliflower etc.