Beans poriyal

This beans poriyal is a delicious way to cook some plain old beans. Poriyal is a Southern Indian dish where vegetables are lightly sauteed with a few spices and then flavoured with coconut. Poriyal itself means "fried" in Tamil. Virtually any veggies can be used - I recently made the same dish with some asparagus to make this asparagus poriyal! This time I also added some cumin seeds for extra flavour. This poriyal pairs perfectly with some simple dal and fragrant rice. It also goes great with some rasam (recipe coming soon for that!) and rice. 

Ingredients 
250g french beans washed and top & tailed and cut into bite size pieces 
1 tbsp fresh grated coconut or desiccated coconut (soaked in 1 tbsp warm water)
Salt to taste 

1 tsp split urad dal 
Coconut oil or vegetable oil as required 
Few curry leaves I use frozen curry leaves
Coriander leaves to garnish 
Water as required 

You'll need these spices 
1 tsp cumin seeds 
1 tsp mustard seeds 
1 dried red chilli broken into a few pieces 
1/4 tsp asafoetida 

Method 

• Take a kadai or large non-stick pan, and on a medium heat add 1 tbsp of coconut oil. I like to use the coconut oil for a delicious flavour, but you can use vegetable oil of you prefer. 
  
  
• When the oil is hot, add the cumin, urad dal & mustard seeds and let them sizzle. Add the asafoetida, dried chillies and curry leaves and let them splutter. 
  
  
• Next, turn the heat to low and add the washed and chopped beans. They will splutter a little. Saute the beans for 5 minutes until they develop some colour. This also gives a good flavour to the dish.
  
  
• Add salt to taste and then pour in around 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup (60 - 125ml) water. Cover the the pan with a lid. Let the beans cook on low with the lid on until soft and the water evaporated. 
  
  
• When the beans are cooked, mixed in the fresh or soaked desiccated coconut and chopped coriander. Serve the beans poriyal immediately alongside some simple dal & rice!