Monday, April 13, 2009

Lima Bean Curry


It constantly amazes me the amount of calories that one can easily consume when eating out. I know I have mentioned this in the past too, but what can I say.... it shocks me anew every time I read an article that tells me about how much calories are there in seemingly innocent sounding items. Did you know that every one of the shakes served at Coldstone is at least 1000 calories, yes that is 1000 calories that you are seeing and at least 92 grams of sugar. Phew! that is almost the daily requirement of calories that women need in an entire day.The article I was reading goes on and on about the various pitfalls to our diet in restaurant food and also has some eye opening information about some restaurants that will not divulge calorie content in their food. I can only imagine that this means that the news is not expected to be good and hence they are avoiding giving out that information. You can read the entire article here

If after reading about all the unhealthy foods makes you feel like heading to the kitchen to start making something healthy and wholesome, then how about this lima bean curry. I make this curry when I am looking for something different from a korma and yet am not looking for the same old garam masala version of curries. The flavors in this are simple and this curry is not very spicy, but the aroma and flavors from this curry will have you coming back for a second helping for sure.


Lima bean curry 3




Ingredients and Method to make Lima bean curry
I large yellow onion (cut fine) (can be substituted with white or red onion too)
2 large roma tomatoes cut fine
3/4 tsp coriander powder
3/4 tsp cumin powder
4 cups frozen lima beans thawed
salt to taste

Grind together
2 green chillies (small Indian or thai variety) (or according to taste)
1 inch piece of ginger
3 tbsp of fresh grated coconut (or frozen thawed to room temperature)
1 inch piece of cinnamon
1/2 tsp fennel seeds

For seasoning
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds

handful of cilantro washed well and chopped fine for garnish

Grind together green chillies, ginger, coconut, cinnamon and fennel seeds with a little water to a fine paste and keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat oil, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to it.

When mustard and cumin seeds start spluttering, add onions to it and saute until onions are tranparent.

Add tomatoes and cook it until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.

Add thawed lima beans, cumin and coriander powder, salt to taste and a little water to cook the beans.

When the beans are cooked, soft and yet not mushy, add the ground paste and water to achieve required consistency and simmer together for a few minutes until flavors are blended.

Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with roti/ plain steamed rice or cumin flavored rice.

Serves approximately 3

Suggested variation

You can use whole either black eyed peas or whole moong bean in this preparation. If you use them dry, just soak them overnight (in case of whole moong bean soaking for 5 to 6 hours is sufficient) and cook them on a stove top or pressure cook them and keep aside) After tomatoes are cooked and soft and mushy, just proceed with using cooked moong bean or cooked black eyed peas, simmer for a few minutes and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

57 comments :

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow looks yummy.

Suparna said...

hi Usha,
love this kind of gravy based beans dishes. Thanks for the recipe. Lovely snaps.
TC

Suparna said...

hi Usha,
love this kind of gravy based beans dishes. Thanks for the recipe. Lovely snaps.
TC

Shama Nagarajan said...

nice yummy healthy one..nice post

Subhie Arun said...

lima beans curry looks grt/..i neva try lima beans curry before..thx for sharing

sharada said...

The curry looks delicious...yum.

Chitra said...

yummy!!

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Curry looks yum yum!!! Sounds healthy as you mention we never take note of the calories we consume sometimes we get carried away with the delicacies ;) This purely is healthy with lots protein...

Soma said...

Looks good. my little one loves lima bean, she will eat it just boiled or frozen from the freezer.. same with peas:-) I too make curry & have with rice.

Vishali said...

Delicious Lima beans curry Usha....I love the way they taste ...;) Hope u had a nice weekend.

FH said...

Oh yes! We ate twice at Indian restaurant in the weekend, believe me, you don't want to eat Indian fir the next 2 days. Calories galore! :D

Lima beans dish looks so yummy, I made one too, will post at Aroma this Friday. Love the soft buttery taste of Lima! :)

Archana said...

Nice recipe, simple and tasty...and so true about the restaurant food. In India, the resaturants never tell you about the calorie values. Am sure its all 'bad' news !!

Gita Jaishankar said...

Even I used make curry with lima beans, I love its buttery texture, this gravy is very intersting Usha, looks delicious too, will have to try your recipe soon :)

Vrinda said...

Never tried Lima beans, Sounds good..I tried your cabbage curry everyone liked it...Thanx Usha...

indosungod said...

Looks delicious. I am a big Lima bean fan, guess the dried kind will work with this recipe as well.

Pavani said...

That masala you used sounds yummy. I cooked some lima beans this past weekend, will make this curry soon. Thanks for the recipe. Have a great week ahead.

Sara said...

I love lima beans, they're so delicious. I like how you put them in a curry!

Ashwini said...

Love lima bean masala..It is so buttery and very delicious..

Jaishree Iyer said...

Healthy & delicious recipe.. looks nice...

Laavanya said...

That sounds like a yummy gravy.. i usually buy the frozen lima beans but this time i got the dried peas and i have quite a few recipes in mind to try out with them. Will add this to the list.

Priya Sriram said...

Love this new version of healthy lima beans curry Usha! I use lima in pulao/biryani. Making curry sounds like a very good idea.. will def. try! :)

Anonymous said...

Even i get scared reading that Usha..
but happy to see the lima bean there..wonderful and yummy..a simple and delicious gravy..wow,love ti have some..
love lentiles Usha..thank you for this..!!

Cham said...

I have a similar lima beans curry in my blog too. Should be tasty with roti or rice :)

Raks said...

Looks very nice! the grinding part sounds flavorful!

Lavanya said...

gravy looks creamy n rich uma..nice n healthy curry!!

Indhu said...

this is a nice and simple sabzi.. I should try cooking more of beans... they are really healthy...
I ate 3 mini slices of cheese pizza from pizza hut on Friday :(
reading your post makes me want to rewind back to Friday and say "No.. thanks.. I will have salad" . If only there was a rewind button for life :(

Deepthi Shankar said...

I love Lima beans. this looks very good

Chutneytales said...

The curry looks yummy..Perfect accompaniment for rotis!

A_and_N said...

I'm going to have to try this. My friend sent me another lima beans recipe. Bookmarked this and that ;)

Kumudha said...

Lima bean curry looks delicious! I often make this and it tastes great with pooris and rotis...

Rajee said...

Hi USha,
Great recipes. Sounds good and taste will be great. I too want to try it. I think you found it somewhere on the site. I too found it and missed it.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

delicious gravy. love the addition of coconut.

Unknown said...

Havent cooked with lima beans. looks yummy!

Unknown said...

goes well with chapatis..looks yum..

Red Chillies said...

I agree with the eating out part...so now we have cut down a lot.
I make lima beans at home atleast once a week. I make dry curry minus the coconut. Like your version.

Priya Suresh said...

Lima beans curry looks too delicous...love the addition of coconut, goes prefect with hot rice and rotis na!

ARUNA said...

even i love Lima beans Usha.....curry is looking yumm as usual!

Anu said...

Always healthy recipes from u Usha :) Curry looks delicious!

Deepa Hari said...

Curry looks delicious Usha...Thanks for sharing.

Uma said...

So healthy and yummy curry!

raaji said...

Haavent tried a curry with lima beans..always used to mix it up with some other vegetable and cook...

Meghan (Making Love In The Kitchen) said...

A curry without black pepper! I love it. I am so allergic to black pepper. I am going to make this for dins. Thanks so much for the veg inspiration! I think I'll add in some cauliflower and sweet potato. Eat it over some quinoa- protein power!

AnuSriram said...

Looks yummilicious! Sounds interesting!

Vaishali said...

This curry sure made me hungry, Uma. It looks delicious and flavorful. Give me home-made food over calorie-loaded restaurant stuff any day!

Sia said...

yes, it is quite shocking at the amot of calroies one consumes while eating out! that's why i prefer home cooked meals :)
and that lima beans curry is to die for!

Ana Powell said...

Hi Usha
Another one of your beautiful recipes
Have a great weekend x

Priya Sriram said...

Hi Usha, I have shared an award with you in my blog.. Pls accept it :)

Vikis Kitchen said...

Very nice write up dear. Gone thro the link. shocked and dropped my weekend eat-out plan. Lima bean curry with less spices is very catchy. I too don't like the garam masalas a lot:) useful post.

miss v said...

i don't think i've ever made lima-bean anything. sounds yummy and healthy!

Anonymous said...

This looks sooooo good! Yes,I do agree there is nothing like preparing your own wholesome love invested food at home! I love Lima beans but forgot all about them for quite a while, till I had them now in my visit to cyprus...made me feel like making them again but lacked a good recipe..and Now I have one! :) Thanx!

Anonymous said...

Hi Usha Darling.... What a nice write up.. I totally agree... woot.. I am and have always love lima beans, and LOVE curry. What are your recommendations to making a good curry base and keeping it stored.

Priya Sriram said...

Hi Usha, tried this curry today, turned out great! So posted it in my blog.. thanks for the recipe! :)

Anonymous said...

Usha, a very unique curry.

BTW large, roma tomatoes? I guess large goes well with all romas :)

Perspectivemedley said...

Nice way to cook the Lima Beans! looks delicious :)

PaakaPriya said...

Hi Usha! I am a first-time visitor to your blog. I tried this recipe and it was awesome!!

Thanks!!

Nellie Lytvinenko said...

Recently vegan husband (I'm following but still crave bacon!) and in cleaning out freezer looked for lima bean uses tonight. Made this dish (not exactly, used what I had in the house) BUT it's wonderful! Thanks!

Nellie Lytvinenko said...

Yummy! Thanks! New to vegan cooking & learning so much. Husband's diabetes numbers are down to normal now! Amazing.
Thank you again for a great recipe.

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