SEASONED DILL & GREEN BEANS WITH RASAM (SPICY BROTH)

This is one of my mother's recipes, called Bassaru in Kannada, which is one of the very few she learned as a young 16 yr old bride. She started learning to cook only after she got married from her MIL, who was a gentle soul! (my Mysore Grandmother ie my dad's mom). My mother has a few tasty recipes she experimented on her own,not many though.She didn't cook much for the first 10 yrs of her marriage, busy with Lions and Rotary clubs as long as my dad was a successful Criminal Defence Attorney (most hated job in USA!),up until he became a Judge.(very restricted social life and lot less money but LOT happier! YAY!!) I was brought up mostly by a wolf...NOOO!! I'm just kidding guys!...by our then 42yrs.old cook Nanjappa until I was nine , whom for many years I called him 'Amma' (mother) although he was a guy (!!) and my mother 'mummy'! No wonder I have a weird sense of humor and always a bit confused!! :D

This combination of dill (Suwa Bhaji, sappaseege` soppu ) and green beans cooked with dal,drained and seasoned tastes wonderful, a meal in itself !! Not very colorful to look at but very flavorful. I always make a rasam with all the veg.stock I get from cooked and drained dill & beans and serve with rice , papad and a pickle !!

YOU NEED:

1 Big bunch of Dill leaves, chopped
1/2 lb Green beans (French beans)Cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 Cup Tuar dal, Salt
TO SEASON:
2 Tsp oil and ghee
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 chopped onion
1 Garlic, Curry leaves, Cilantro
1-2 Green chilies or Red dry chillies, Salt



HOW TO:
1. Place Dal, beans ,dill with little salt on top of each other in this order in a pressure cooker with 2 cups water.DO NOT mix. Cook until 2 whistles or gently just until dal is cooked,not mashed too much.Turn off the heat,wait until pressure's gone.
2. Open the lid, pour into a strainer with a big bowl underneath to catch the broth.
3. Leave for 1/2 an hour to get almost a dry lump of dal,dill and beans.
4. At this stage, you could remove some dal mixture to add to rasam if you donot want very thin rasam.I do that because my kids donot like watery rasams, but you don't have to , can make rasam with just the broth if you like.
5. Heat a pan with ghee/oil, season. When onion gets reddish, stir in dal mixture, adjust the salt and mix very gently taking care not to mash it.When done ,beans and dill should coated with dal and almost dry. It's now ready to eat!!

TO MAKE RASAM:



1. Season with ghee, mustard seeds, Cumin seeds,1/2 chopped onion, 1 garlic, curry leaves, turmeric and little hing.
2. When onion is softened , add saved veg.stock or broth,any dal mix if saved, 2 tomatoes, 1 -2 tsps of any Rasam pd you like, chilli pd or pepper pd, cilantro and salt. Simmer. Serve with rice, dill-beans as a side dish , papad , pickle etc,.

NOTE:My Rasam (?!) looks thick because I added 3tbsps of the dill-beans mix to make it thick which pleases my kids! But it's usually made with just the thin broth which is real Rasam :)

A Healthy Tasty Vegetarian Thali:


ENJOY!!