Green Beans & Red Rose Potatoes is a classic Punjabi recipe.

I decided to make this recipe because my neighbor, Billy brought me fresh green beans and red rose potatoes from his garden.  I am always inspired by the fresh, beautiful ingredients that I have on hand.

My grandmother used to make this dish with a combination of ghee and mustard oil.  The mustard oil adds a fantastic pungent flavor and a fragrant aroma. If you want to make it vegan, you can use grape seed oil instead of the ghee.  

In India most people observe a religious day of the week.  Which day is considered religious depends on the deity that the household follows.   In our household Krishna is our deity and Tuesday is our religious day.  So on Tuesdays we fast until dinner time and don’t eat any garlic or onion.  This recipe was designed for fast day with no garlic or onion.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds of green beans
• 1/2 pound of red rose potatoes
• 2 inches of ginger root
• 1 inch of turmeric root (use powdered turmeric if the root is not available)
• 1 large green chili
• 1 lemon
• 1 large tomato
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp ghee
• 3 Tbsp mustard oil (1 Tbsp for coating the potatoes and 2 Tbsp for cooking)
• 2 Tbsp of my Indian Spice Mix (leave out the garlic and onion powder)
• 1 tsp of black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• salt and pepper to taste

PREP:

• Cut the potatoes in half.  Then cut each half into slices that are 1/4 inch thick.  Coat the potatoes with 1 Tbsp of mustard seed oil and my Indian Spice Mix.  Set aside at room temperature to marinate while you prep the other ingredients.
• Remove the stems of the green beans.  Cut each bean into thirds.  This should yield pieces that are an inch and a half each.
• Dice the tomato
• Mince the ginger and chili

COOK:

Place a wok or large stainless steel pan on a medium flame.  Add the ghee and let it melt.

When the ghee is hot add the ginger, chili, black mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the seeds to toast and pop.

Add the tomato paste and 2 Tbsp of mustard oil.

Saute for about 3 minutes to cook the tomato paste and brown the ginger and chili.

Add the marinated red rose potatoes.

Grate in the turmeric root and saute until the potatoes are brown.

Add the diced tomato and half a tsp of salt and pepper.  

Saute until the tomatoes get soft.  This should take 2 or 3 minutes.

Place the lid.  Reduce the flame to low and cook until the potatoes are almost tender, but not yet soft.

Add the green beans.  Mix them in and add 1/2 tsp of salt.  Cover and let cook until the potatoes are soft and the green beans are tender but still a little crunchy. 

Many people in India like their green beans cooked until they are soft.  If that is your preference, then by all means cook the beans until they are soft.  I decided to keep the beans crunchy because they were just freshly picked from the garden.  They tasted so good all on their own that I wanted to keep the integrity of the ingredient.

Remove the lid.  Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and toss to mix.  Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

This dish is usually served with dal (lentil soup) and roti (Indian flat bread.)  That makes a great vegetarian meal.  I usually pair it with Amritsari Masala Fish and pick out most of the potatoes, so that I can keep on my pescatarian and ketogenic lifestyle.  It can also be paired with any other protein to make a complete meal.

I have been posting Indian recipes for the past 5 weeks.  Next week I am going to switch over to one of my signature Italian recipes.

Until then, namaste 🙏