Beans SagLe

SagLe in konkani means "whole" as in we add larger pieces of veggies to this dish than we do in other dishes. I guess we are supposed to add the veggies as a whole, but I guess over time it has evolved into using larger pieces - keeping in mind the amount of time it would actually take to cook the whole veggies.

Whenever I make this dish, my friends in the US relish it a lot. This dish can be prepared with a variety of vegetables: eggplant, beans, okra are some of the commonly used ones. This dish has a strong coconutty flavor, but it is not that of raw coconuts and is also masked a bit by the spices used in the dish. So, if you are the kind who does not like coconut-based dishes, you should still try it once.. you might just end up liking it.


Preparation Time (15 min)

Cooking Time - 20 mins approx


Ingredients
Beans - 2 cups (cut into 1' pieces)
Salt - as per taste


For the gravy

Red Chillies - 5 (depending on your spice levels, you can either increase / reduce this quantity)
Urdh daal - 2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1tbsp (or coriander powder 2 tsps)
Grated coconut - 1 cup (increase this if you want more gravy)
Tamarind - small lemon sized chunk
Jaggery - 2 tsps grated (optional)


For tempering
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves 4- 5 leaves
Oil - 1 tbsp


Method

Heat little bit of the oil in a small pan. When its hot, add red chillies to it and roast them well. Take them out when they turn darker in color and keep them aside. Then add urdh daal and coriander seeds to the same pan and roast them until they turn golden in color. Take it out and turn off the pan. Grind the red chillies, urdh daal, coriander seeds and all other ingredients for the gravy into a coarse paste with considerably less water.

Tip: If you are using frozen coconut, use warm-hot water to grind. This will avoid forming the waxy coating on the inside of the grinder.

Heat the pan again with the rest of the oil and add the mustard seeds to it. When the mustard seeds begin to sputter, add the curry leaves to it. Then add the cut beans to it and fry well. Cover and cook on low-medium flame for about 10 mins stirring at regular intervals to avoid the vegetables sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When the beans are almost cooked, they turn color and look a slightly withered (Dont worry, they will turn out fine when you add the gravy and some water to the dish). At this time add the ground paste and salt and cook it well until all the raw smell of the coconut goes away. At this time, you can taste the gravy and add more salt if necessary. The gravy should be a thick mixture - you can add as much water as you would like the gravy consistency to be, but remember the more the water, the diluted the flavors become.

Cook this well until it starts to boil. Turn off the heat and beans sagle is mouth-wateringly ready !!

Pardon the bad quality of the photo, had only this one
to put up. Will update with a better one next time.

Do try this recipe and leave comments for me :)

- So