Yard long beans or payaru was one vegetable which I liked very much during my childhood. I preferred this to the other varieties of beans. But after I finished college and came home, my taste had changed. The reason being hostel food. Though there were many things which were really good in the hostel menu, but certain things like this payaru thoran, cabbage thoran etc, were made in a slightly different way and not only that: - what happens when one is fed with a particular item on every other day. You start developing a kind of dislike towards it, right! I guess that’s what happened to me. I took an aversion to cabbage and yard long beans.
From then on, whenever these veggies were cooked at home, mom would make something else for me. Still every now and then I was forced to have it at some place or the other. But after coming to Hyderabad, these yard long beans have become a kind of rarity. In this 1 ½ years of stay here, payaru has been prepared only once, reason being lack of availability of good fresh ones. Now I have again started craving for these beans.
Yesterday, I found some really fresh payaru and immediately picked it up and prepared this thoran today. I relished it a lot as it has been quite some time since I ate it. How things change with time isn’t it!
This simple thoran goes very well with plain rice and Sambar or rasam.
What you’ll need
1. Yard Long Beans/ Payaru/Karamani – ½ Kg
2. Scraped Fresh Coconut – 2 tbsps
3. Green Chillies – 1 or 2
4. Turmeric powder – a pinch
5. Salt to taste
For Seasoning
1. Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
2. Urad Dal Split – ½ tsp
3. Curry Leaves – a few
4. Oil – 2 tsps
Method
Wash the beans. Trim the ends and chop it into small pieces.
Grind the coconut, chillies and curry leaves without adding water.
Heat a Kadai with oil, add mustard seeds, once it splutters add the urad dal. Once the urad dal changes color, add the curry leaves. Next add the chopped beans, a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste. Also add about 1/3 cup of water. Cover and cook on medium flame. Keep checking once in a while, as the water will evaporate. Add more water if required. And cover and cook till the beans are done.
Now add the ground coconut and mix well.
Yummy thoran is ready to be served with rice and Sambar.
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