Beans Paruppu Usli

Beans Paruppu Usli. Standard festival fare. I haven't yet attended a single TamBram wedding where this delicacy isn't served. If I remember right, this dish definitely featured on the lunch menu at our wedding. I used to tell Amma that we should have Vazhaippoo Paruppu Usli at the wedding and she laughed. I somehow thought paruppu usli was a very labour intensive dish. (Memories of Amma grinding the soaked dal in the ammi may have caused me to think thus.) It looks like the vazhaippoo version is tedious, the others seem really easy. While many people I have met tell me that parupu usli is traditionally served with mor kuzhambu, at our place it is always served with menthi kuzhambu. If you ask me, forget the mor, the menthi or the kuzhambu, eat the paruppu usli from a bowl, all by itself.

1/2 cup Toor Dal, soaked for 2 hours

1/2 cup French Beans, chopped and steamed

1-2 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

7-8 Curry Leaves

2 tsp Oil

Grind the soaked dal to a coarse paste and mix it with the turmeric powder, chilli powder, asafoetida and salt.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and the ground dal mixture. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes over a low flame. Add the cooked beans and cook for a couple of minutes more. The dal mixture shouldn't be a lump anymore, but should look more like huge breadcrumbs.

This month of November sees me running the traditional way more than any other. Let's see in which direction my friends are moving. Check out Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, DK, and Pavani.