French Beans Curry in Coconut Gravy

French beans curry recipe in coconut gravy with step by step pictures –  Let us check today a simple afternoon curry dish that I prepare to give a twist to plain old french beans. Normally in my home french beans is used in some fixed set of dishes. I make french beans poriyal along with coconut and french beans potato sabzi that goes really well with roti / chappati. However every now and than I make this simple dish that taste quite different from usual french beans recipes.

In this recipe of french beans curry I have made coconut based gravy. The simple Punjabi onion and tomato gravy is given a South Indian touch with grated coconut. It taste different and delicious.

French beans also known as green beans or fansi has many health benefits. Green beans are packed with anti oxidant which are good for your eyes and skin. They are rich in vitamin A, C and K and are good mineral source. Also Individuals with diabetes or those who at a risk of developing diabetes will benefit from eating green beans since they help to control the glucose levels of the blood.

There are some points that you should keep in mind while cooking french beans:

• You can store green beans for many days in the refrigerator since they do not lose their freshness. It is best to store them in plastic bags to prevent loss of moisture.
• It is advisable to wash green beans just before using. Wash them under running water. It is important to wash them thoroughly to get rid of sand and other debris.
• Green beans should be trimmed and cut just before cooking since they may lose their nutritional quality if cut ahead of time. You can either snap off both ends or cut them off with a knife.

Getting back to the recipe. Let us start with step by step recipe of french beans curry in coconut gravy.

Step by step recipe of french beans curry in coconut gravy

For this simple french beans curry we will need following ingredients. Wash and cut french beans into 1/2 inch pieces. Also make puree of Tomato and onion in a mixture grinder / food processor. Grate the fresh coconut using grater or food processor.

Blanch the green beans in hot water for 5 minutes till they become tender.

Once the green beans becomes soft drain the access water by transferring them into a sieve and run cold water through green beans to avoid excessive cooking.

Now let us start cooking the french beans curry. In a non-stick bottom pan or kadhai heat around 2 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot add cumin seeds and bay leaf. Let the color of cumin seeds turn light brown.

Once the cumin seed turns brown add onion paste.

Saute the onion paste in oil for a minute then add tomato puree.

Let the tomato puree gets cooked for another minute or so till oil starts oozing out of the gravy. Add powdered spices now: red chili powder, garam masala powder, salt and turmeric powder.

Mix well spices with the onion tomato gravy. Now add ginger and garlic paste. Saute the gravy for a minute.

Let us add the coconut paste that we created earlier by grating coconut in food processor. Add the coconut paste in curry gravy.

Mix well and let the gravy gets cooked for a minute. Add water and cook the gravy again.

The gravy for french beans curry is ready. Throw in the par boiled french beans in the curry and mix well.

Let the french beans gets cooked with gravy for some time. The tasty french beans curry in coconut gravy is ready to serve.

Serve the french beans curry with hot chappati or phulkas.

Recipe of French Beans Curry:

If you are looking for more curry recipes for afternoon lunch do read bharwa bhindi sabji, tomato spring onion sabji, ratlami sev sabji, kala chana masala and lauki chana dal sabji.