Friday, May 19, 2006

Do you know this vegetable? - Alsande / Chawlichya Shenga / Long beans / Cow-pea beans


All of you overwhelmed me today. No, you really did. I posted this picture last night and wanted to write the post too. However, I hardly managed to think straight with that sleepy head of mine, let alone writing a full post. So, I said 'Let me just publish a teaser and see what happens'. And what do I get today in the morning? 12 comments! Not one or two, but one dozen! And almost all of you have guessed it right. Well done, Friends. You are smart and you are quick. If you ever entered a quiz contest, and if there were a 'Buzzer Round' in it, you would surely win it. I assure you. So, this post is dedicated to Shilpa, Revathi, Nabeela, KrishnaArjuna, Nandita, Perspective, Faffer, (phew...another five to go) Suhaag, Nandan, Anon, Sumitha, Zoya...and many more who have guessed it right, but have not left a comment.

As Zoya has mentioned, this bean is called 'Chawlichi Sheng' in Marathi. Until I got married, it was never a part of my diet, but very much a part of my vocabulary. That too in the figurative sense. Ok, let me explain it. A slender and tall woman is called 'Chawlichi Sheng' in Marathi. For example, Anna Kournikova can be called a CS, or maybe Malaika Arora, or perhaps Halle Berry (basically all those women who I envy appreciate for their fitness).

Coming back to the long beans, I was saying that I had never eaten or cooked them before marriage, because it's not a part of the diet in my parents' families. However, after I got married and became a part of a Konkani family, I got to know/eat this vegetable. It makes a regular appearance on my mother-in-law's table. Maybe because I ate it at her place for the first time, I always prepare it the way my MIL does, although it can be cooked the Maharashtrian way too. Here's the way she prepares it.

Recipe for Alsande Upkari (Steam-cooked long beans)

Ingredients:

approx. ¼ kg. Long / cow-pea beans
1 medium sized boiled potato
a generous pinch asafoetida powder
salt to taste

1 tsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
3-4 dried red chillis, broken into two-three pieces each

2 tbsp gated coconut for garnishing (optional; I haven’t used)

Method:

1. Wash and top & tail the beans. Cut them in 1 inch long pieces.

2. Cut the potato in cubes. (The size does not really matter here, because the potato is boiled and hence the question of it taking less/more time to cook does not arise.)

3. Heat the oil in a pan. Once it is fairly hot, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.

4. Add the broken red chillis. After a second or two, add the beans.

5. Sprinkle some water (about two tablespoons for non-stick and ¼ cup for regular pans). Add salt to taste. Stir the beans well and cover the pan with a lid.

6. Open the lid after three-four minutes. Some steam should be gathered inside now. Add the potato pieces.

7. Stir the beans again and let them cook until soft yet crunchy. (Can the beans then be called 'al dente'?)

8. Just before turning the heat off, open the pan and add the asafoetida powder. Stir the Upkari well, put the lid back and turn the heat off. (I know, this is different from the usual 'hing in the tadka/asafoetida in the hot oil' routine, but believe me, it tastes great like this.)

9. Serve after about 1o minutes, so that all the flavours get time to blend well with each other. Garnish it with grated coconut, if you like, before serving.

Alsande Upkari

The traditional practise in Konkani households is to add asafoetida water, which is simply a small piece of asafoetida dissolved in water. However, this means a tiny bit of preparation, and I also sometimes am left with excess of it, which I don't know where to use. So,adding asafoetida powder is the only bit that I do differently from my mother-in-law.

Sending this one over to Kalyn for her Weekend Herb Blogging event.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Vaishali, We call it "Vala sangi". I donno any other name for it :(.

Revathi said...

Long beans ???

Nabeela said...

string beans? or chinese long beans?

KA said...

My guess is cowpea beans..

Unknown said...

These are Chowli beans ! don;t know what's that called in English though- runner beans? String beans?

Unknown said...

This is called Chowli in my language (gujarati)

Mamatha said...

Runner beans, Alsandalu (telugu), thatta payir(tamil)- not sure though.

Nandan said...

Waali in Marathi/Malwani. That's my guess. Also, admire your sense of placement while taking photos. Food photography is itself an art and is a branch of professional photography. Any plans of taking it up? :-)

Anonymous said...

i am amazed at your photography... especially since you mentioned that you have a standard no zoom camera... i think you should take nandan's suggestion seriously. Answer to your question... dont want to repeat what the others above have said...

Sumitha said...

Hi Vaishali in malayalam we call it Achingya/Achingya payar!My
Mum makes yummy thoran with it.Did u get it from an Indian shop or do u get it in Germany? Here in Swiss we dont get them.

Anonymous said...

:) Its called "Chawli chya shenga" in Marathi...could you tell me what they are called in English ? Nice blog, by the way...I've been an invisible reader for some days now. - Zoya

BDSN said...

I love this beans but dont get it here...wish i did...simple recipe vaishali...

Ashwini said...

Umm Alsande. Love them. Vaishali do you remember the play Moruchi maushi? They had a song that went 'ambyacha zaadawar chawlichya shenga..tang ting tinga...'...hee hee. I dont know why I should think of that but I just did :-)

Vaishali said...

Shilpa, I don't know this word, but I am sure you are right.

Revathi, KA, Nandita, BINGO!

Nabeela, as you must have read already, these are long beans or cow-pea beans. string beans are the flat ones, I guess. Btw, welcome to my blog!

Perspective (Perspective?:):)), you are absolutely right. Welcome to my blog.

Faffer, Alsandalu sounds closer to Alsande, the Konkani word. I am sure, you're right. If you've read the post, then you know the English name now.

Suhaag (Is that an anagram?), welcome to my blog. You are 100% right. How does your mum make the curry? Btw, I like the name of your blog.

Nandan, thanks for the compliment. I have always wanted to be a photographer. I'd love it, if I could take it up in future. Let's see.

Anon, thanks. *grin*

Sumitha, I got them in a SriLankan shop here in in D'dorf. I find many ingredients that I need for Konkani cooking in that shop. Wanna come over to D'dorf to enjoy some Upkari at my place and take some beans for home?

Zoya, your answer is absolutely correct. Thanks for leaving the comment.

Anonymous said...

Vaishali, We make this same dish, but we add a bit of sugar or jaggery (just a half spoor or so). Its one of my favourite dish :).
I remember, when I was a kid, my mom used to fry these(We grew them in our garden) on charcoal and open the green part of it. The beans eaten that way are very tasty.

RP said...

I missed the guessing game! :(
But I do love this beans. Your recipe sounds wonderful!

Vaishali said...

BDSN & RP, it is indeed a simple yet tasty dish. I was really ecstatic when I saw these beans in the SriLankan shop here.

Ashwini, I remember that song. They also used to say 'shevgyachya shenga' at times. Depending upon what the actors had for lunch maybe? :) Another funny line used to be'Marutichya bembeet shirla bai bhunga...tang ting tinga ge tang ting...' LOL

Shilpa, you grew them in your garden? And you roasted them on charcoal? Mmmmmm.... I hope I can do that sometime in future.

Neelu said...

Hey its soo easy......u dont need any masalas n onions here ...cutting onion is a pain for me :)...can this same recipe be tried with other beans as well...green beans especialy which r sooo common here...

Neelu said...

MAruticha bembeet hahahaha....good one :)

Menu Today said...

Hi Vashali,
In tamil we call it as karamani or payathangai, your recipe looks healthier.

Vaishali said...

Neelu, oh yes, this recipe can be used for cooking green beans too. They taste wonderful like that.

MT, 'karamani' is a sweet name. Try out this Upkari, it is healthy as well as easy and quick.

Anonymous said...

Oh! I missed the guessing game..:)
Such a simple recipe and healthy one too.

Vaishali said...

Sailu,
I'll keep the game running for longer next time. Or I could e-mail you just when I publish the post, so that you get to be the first one to guess. ;) :) :)

Unknown said...

This was fun! I love these guessing games- makes it so much more interactive..

Kalyn Denny said...

I've only eaten these in Chinese restaurants and had no idea they were used in Indian cooking. What a great sounding recipe. Thanks for sharing.

Vaishali said...

Nandita, I love guessing games too. They bring in so much more excitement.

Kalyn, I didn't know they were used in Chinese cooking. Food-blogging makes us smarter, doesn't it?

Shammi said...

Ooh, I LOVE long bean - paired with potatoes, they're so gorgeous! :) Just cant get them here :(

Vaishali said...

Shammi, do you want to come to Germany for your next grocery-shopping trip then?

Neelu said...

Hi Vaishali,
I tried your recipe today with green beans and it came out nice , the only variation i made was adding a drzzle of goda masala. Potatoes taste great with beans, had never dont that before.

Vaishali said...

Hey Neelu,
Thanks for trying out my recipe. I am glad that it turned out well. Goda Masala is a good twist. Thanks so much for coming back with the feedback.

Anonymous said...

It is called karamani kaai in Tamil.

Unknown said...

this tastes awesome....if want some flavour...add one spoon of pav bhaji powder.....try keeping i t out of fridge before cooking...for it to cook fast

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Unknown said...

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