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Green beans poriyal in a cast iron pan with a wooden spatula holding some of the beans.

Beans Poriyal (Indian Green Beans)

Shri Repp
Beans poriyal is an Indian green beans preparation where the chopped greens are coated in a ground shredded coconut and curry leaf paste and roasted until the spices and beans caramelize into a spicy and rich side dish that has enough flavor to act as the main star.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Side Dish
Servings 2 cups

Equipment

Ingredients
 

Green Beans Ingredients

  • 1 pound green beans French beans
  • 1.5 (225 g) medium yellow onions
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt plus more to taste
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 10 curry leaves
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt plus more to taste
  • Optional lemon rice for serving

Masala Paste Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup (40 g) frozen grated coconut thawed
  • 8 cloves garlic
  • 10 curry leaves
  • 1.5 teaspoons coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup water

Instructions
 

  1. Gather 4-5 beans at a time, chop the stringy ends and discard. Chop the beans between ¼ to ½ inch in thickness and set aside in a bowl.
    Thinly cut green beans on a cutting board
  2. Next, finely chop the 1.5 medium yellow onions and set them aside in another bowl.
  3. In a small food processor, add all masala paste ingredients (⅓ cup frozen grated coconut8 cloves garlic, 10 curry leaves, 1.5 teaspoons coriander powder, 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon salt¼ cup water) and blend to form a thick dry masala paste. The paste shouldn’t have large bits of garlic; if the food processor is struggling, add an additional tablespoon of water until the paste is formed.
    Bright orange chunky green beans masala paste
  4. Add 3 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon cumin seeds to a large pan on medium heat. Allow the oil to heat and the cumin seeds to dance or pop in the oil.
  5. Add 10 curry leaves into the hot oil and allow them to sizzle in the oil for ~30 seconds.  If the curry leaves contain a lot of water, they will sputter and pop in the oil. If the popping is too vigorous, simply turn the heat down. 
  6. Add the chopped onions and half of the 1 teaspoon fine sea salt and saute until the onions start to turn brown on the edges.
    Golden brown onions along with curry leaves and cumin seeds in a cast iron pan.
  7. Add the green beans and the remaining half of the salt. Saute for 1 minute.
  8. Add the thick reddish orange masala paste to the green beans. Mix to combine the beans with the paste. Slowly roast the beans and masala on medium for ~15 minutes, taking care to saute the beans and scrape the masala off the bottom of the pan every 5 minutes or so until the masala paste darkens.
    Beans poriyal in a cast iron pan
  9. Taste the beans for salt and add more as needed. The beans taste delicious served with plain rice, lemon rice, or yogurt rice.
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