Beans and Carrot Thoran

I always find it difficult to circle back to the usual routine from a vacation. I should say I had best of my time in Tennessee – Home of The Great Smoky Mountains.  Travelogue coming soon at my space. Did I ever mention about my food during my stay in the hillbilly mountains?  I had the enjoyed an awesome Mexican dinner from a family owned restaurant, scrumptious breakfast, and homemade lunch. (Yes, you got it correctly – Homemade lunch. I will soon blog about Travel foods and what did I prepare for my three day holiday out) Well, I always love to indulge myself in a simple yet delicious healthy meal after every vacation. This solves two of my purposes – Cleaning my body and recovering myself from the tiring vacation. Here, it is – a simple delicious perfect blend of beans and carrot. I am sure the colorful composition is enough to drive your crazy!

Thoran is a regional dish, specific to Kerala. Thoran is prepared as sides for rice and curry. Thoran is traditionally prepared by cooking chopped vegetables with grated coconut, mustard seeds, turmeric powder and cumin powder. Thoran is a dry dish prepared without water and garlic. It can be prepared with various vegetables like carrot, beans, cabbage,drumstick leaves, greens etc. This simple carrot and beans thoran can be prepared easily and serves as a perfect side for sambar rice. The complementing colors of carrot and beans add such vibrancy to the dish. Serve this simple thoran with sambar rice and enjoy lunch with fried pappad. They are a perfect one to try out when you want to clean your refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sized Carrots
• 20 Green beans
• 1 Big onion
• 3 Green Chilies
• 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
• ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt (adjust as per your taste)
• 1 tablespoon Oil
• ¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds
• 10 Curry leaves

Method:

• Wash carrot and beans thoroughly with water. Chop beans and carrot into small pieces. Keep aside
• Cut onion into small pieces and slit green chilies.
• In a bowl, add chopped vegetables, onions, chilies, cumin powder, turmeric powder, salt and toss them well. Vegetables should be evenly coated with spices.
• Heat oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds followed by curry leaves.
• Once the mustard seeds pop out, transfer the vegetable mixture to the pan and cook with the lid covered.
• Do not add water to the mixture. Keep cooking over a medium heat to avoid vegetables being burnt.
• Once they are cooked well, add grated coconut and combine them well
• Cook for another 5 minutes and switch off the flame. If there is still moisture in the thoran, cook them for few more minutes until the moisture is absorbed completely.
• Serve hot rice with sambar and carrot beans thoran for a perfect traditional lunch