“Midke sange upkari” is a another typical dish from the Konkani community of Mangalore. It is a stir fry using a unique vegetable called cluster beans or guar beans, uniquely indigenous to India.
They are slightly flat and smaller in size compared to the regular green beans and have a slightly bitter taste to them, which many people do not prefer, so jaggery (unrefined sugar) or brown sugar is added to this vegetable to combat the slight bitterness, and then garnished with grated coconut.
We normally enjoy this tasty, simple, nutritious (full of proteins, fiber, vitamins and minerals)and lower in calories vegetable, with rice and dalithoy (a toor dal gravy preparation of Mangalore).
Unlike regular green beans, these have to be cut using hands to remove as much fiber as you can, as otherwise, they can be difficult to chew.
Cluster beans stir fry with mustard and a hint of jaggery.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of chopped midke sanga (cluster beans)
- 2 to 3 dry red chillies, chopped into 2 to 3 pieces
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons oil (preferably coconut oil)
- 2 teaspoons jaggery
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons grated coconut
Instructions
- Wash, remove the ends of the beans and cut each beans by hand to remove as much fiber as you can.
- In a kadai or deep saucepan, heat the oil on medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and once they start to splutter, add the red chillies and sauté for a few seconds.
- Stir in the beans , add salt and jaggery and mix well.
- Sprinkle some water, mix and cook on medium till they turn soft and are well cooked.
- Taste for salt and sweetness and adjust according to your taste. We prefer it slightly sweet, so I add more jaggery.
- Mix in the coconut and heat through till all the water has been absorbed.
- Serve with hot, steamed rice and dalithoy or as a side dish with any meal.
Note:
This stir fry is totally vegan and can be enjoyed with a simple bowl of hot, steaming rice and dalithoy.
Cluster beans can be used in sambhar too.
[…] dry red chillies). Our standard stir fries are potato upkari, green beans upkari or talasani, midke sange upkari, arbi (taro root) upkari and many more. Broccoli Talasani (broccoli stir fry in garlic and red […]