Beans Carrot Mezhukkuparatti or Stirfry

How many kinds of vegetables do you buy? All kinds indiscriminately or do u end up getting the same set week after week? Do you get excited by new veggies in other households? Do the experimentally bought veggies get relegated to the back of the drawer and only resurface during fridge clean up? Do you stereotype veggies as mallu, gujju, punjabi, marathi etc? Do you feel that certain vegetables taste like a particular cuisine no matter what you make with it? I am as guilty as you are and the only reason I can think of is environment. We tend to attach foods to a weather, a place, a cuisine that we first ate it in, a way of cooking...and to break out of that mold is difficult.


Some vegetables though are universal.. carrots and beans.. if I did an blog event with just carrot and beans as the theme, we would get flooded with entries from every corner of the world...Can you imagine if the theme was banana flower/Koombh or vazhakkatholi/ banana peels instead? Almost every cuisine uses these two veggies, alone or in combination.

This is just another recipe from my family kitchen, with the modification of more garlic and blanching the beans. Back in Kerala, I don't think they add as much garlic but I like the flavor and started adding it to the beans. It's a safe staple with the kids and on the table every week. Blogging and reading blogs has made other veggies more familiar and introduced us to many new ones but these two still hold a special place. This preparation is one way to spice up the sweetness of the carrots and beans, if you are bored with the thorans.
It goes well with the rice and yogurt based curries and even with rotis. Reduce the red pepper flakes for the kids or just add one broken long dried red chili.

You could also make this with the baby green beans which cook instantly ..add just lots of garlic and red chili flakes with them . No need to blanch these beans.

You will need:

Carrots-2 long ones

Fresh Green Beans- about 3 handfuls

Turmeric-A pinch

Shallots- 4-5 peeled

Garlic-3 or 4 cloves

Dried Red Chili Flakes -1/2 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Oil-1 or 2 tbsp (coconut oil is yum in this recipe)

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and cut the beans into inch long pieces. Peel, wash and cut the carrots into a similiar sized pieces.

Boil a cup of water in a saute pan and add the cut veggies to it. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes just to get the raw bite out of it. Do not add too much water for the blanching. Drain the veggies and keep aside. Rinse in cold water just once to retain the sharp colors.

Crush the garlic, shallots and the red chilies( whole chilies or flakes, spicy or mild as per taste') in a mortar and pestle.

 Heat the oil in a small wok/pan and as it heats up, add the curry leaves and then add the crushed mixture. Saute till the raw smell disappears and then add the drained vegetables. Add the turmeric and salt and stir fry for about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how cooked, fried and wilted you like it. The oil is what makes it cook further without burning so if it is browning unevenly , it needs more oil.  Customise to your salt and spice level. Serve with rice.