This beans and potatoes curry is an classic example that brushes aside the myth that all Indian food is complicated.
With just a handful of fresh ingredients and spices you can stir this easy french beans curry Indian style in matter of minutes.
This type of Indian beans and potato curry, also known as ‘Beans and Alu ki sabzi’ in Hindi, is made as a regular vegetarian Indian curry eaten with rotis or plain boiled rice.
Ingredients Needed to Make Vegan Green Beans Curry
One of the reasons that this dish can easily be made on any weeknight is that it requires limited ingredients and regular spices.
Here is what you will need:
FRESH INGREDIENTS
⇒Fresh green beans – 250 grams
⇒Potatoes – 2 medium
⇒Tomatoes – 1
⇒Green Chillies – 1 or 2
⇒Coriander leaves – 1/2 cup
⇒Water or vegetable stock – 1/2 cup, use 1/2 a cube of veg stock and add it to water if you wish.
PANTRY ITEMS
⇒Sugar or any sweetener – 1/2 tsp
⇒Salt to taste
⇒Ghee – 3 tsp. You can use coconut oil for vegan version
SPICES
⇒Asafoetida – 3/4 tsp
⇒Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
⇒Turmeric – 1 tsp
OPTIONAL AND SUBSTITUTE INGREDIENTS
Substitute for Ghee – Use butter or any unsaturated fat of your choice. For a vegan green beans curry use coconut oil, olive oil or mustard oil.
Substitute for potatoes – Use sweet potatoes for a low carb Indian green beans dish
Substitute for Asafoedita – Use garlic and onion powder as a substitute. You can read about asafoetida spice here.
Optional – Use mustard seeds and curry leaves for added flavour.
Optional – Use vegetable stock cube for a heightened flavour
Difference Between Green Beans and French Beans
You can make this recipe using either french beans or green beans or any type of beans.
How does that matter or what if the difference?
There are many different varieties of beans available in the market. Including yellow beans, snap beans, broad beans, long beans and many others with fancy names.
Classified as ‘beans’ they all are different in taste and cooking capability.
Green beans are the general name given to the variety of fresh beans (green in colour) sold in the market.
French beans is also a type of green beans. The main difference is about its size and shape.
While Green beans are longer and can be curly with bigger seeds inside, French beans are more short, straight with smaller seeds.
French beans are comparatively tender to green beans.
So when it comes to cooking French beans you can simply blanch them in hot water, rinse under ice cold water to retain its colour and sprinkle some flavoured oil, salt and pepper and voila your family and friends will think you are a kitchen Goddess!
Or if you wish to serve something more exotic then make this easy French Beans Indian Curry and impress family and friends.
I have made this same Indian beans recipe with all types of beans and it tastes equally good.
Stepwise Cooking Method With Images
Here is how to make this easy delicious Indian style green beans and potato curry in instapot.
STEP 1
Heat the pressure cooker or instapot and add ghee. Once the ghee becomes warm add 2 tsp cumin seeds, green chillies (chopped or whole) and 3/4tsp asafoetida powder and cook until fragrant for about 30 – 40 seconds.
STEP 2
Next add the chopped beans and potatoes and stir fry for 4-5 minutes along with the spices
STEP 3
Now add chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Stir fry for another 3 minutes.
STEP 4
Now add 1/2 cup water, put the lid on the pressure cooker and let it cook on high for first 5 minutes . Lower heat and cook for 4 minutes more. Release pressure immediately after this time to stop the vegetables from over cooking.
STEP 5
Add an additional soon of butter or ghee, fresh coriander leaves and serve Indian style aromatic green beans and potatoes with rotis. parathas or even plain boiled rice.
Cooking Tips & FAQs
- Use fresh tender green beans for better flavour.
- Do not add too much water as both beans and tomatoes are high on water content. Too much water will make it too fluid and loose taste.
- Tender beans do not need a lot of time or water to cook. So the amount of water used will depend on how fresh and tender your vegetables are.
- It is very important to release the pressure and open the instapot after 5-8 minutes of cooking do stop the beans from getting overcooked. You can put the pressure cooker under running cold water to help release the pressure immediately.
- Do not add sugar if you are substituting with sweet potato. You can however add a little lemon juice to cut through the sweetness of sweet potatoes.
Can you make this dish without Instapot?
If you do not have a pressure cooker or an instant pot you can make this green beans curry in a regular pot as well.
It may take 5 minutes more but the steps and process are the same to follow.
Use a regular pan with a lid and cook on low flame. Depending on how thick you like the gravy to be you may need to add a little but more water.
But this is a semi dry dish so do not overdo on the liquid bit. Remember beans will release it’s own juices while cooking.
How to make a low carb Indian green beans curry?
To make a low card version of this dish, substitute potatoes with sweet potatoes. Also skip using sugar as sweet potatoes render the sweetness to the dish.
You can also replace ghee with olive oil, coconut oil or mustard oil for tempering the spices and add a tsp of low carb butter instead.
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