Aloo Beans Sabzi - Stir-fried Potatoes and Green Beans

For some strange reason, I am mostly - MOSTLY - cooking more of dry sabjis than gravy sabjis.  I don't know why.  May be laziness or time constraints in grinding everything in a blender?  But that is a silly reason.  Until the time I figure out why I end up making more stir-fry's and less gravy dishes, here is a simple dry aloo beans ki sabji (stir-fried potatoes and green beans) recipe.

These are all the basic spices you would use from your masala dabba on a regular basis in pretty much every other simple dry sabzi.  For these kind of regular stir-fry dishes, you won't even need measurements and proportions after a while.

Potatoes and Green Beans (Aloo Beans Subzi) Recipe
Serves 2-3

What you'll need:
1 Tbsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2-3 dry red chilies, broken
1 pinch asafoetida/heeng
1 cup green beans, chopped and packed
½ cup potatoes, parboiled and diced

¼ tsp turmeric/haldi powder

1 tsp red chili/lal mirch powder

¾ tsp coriander/dhaniya powder

¼ tsp cumin/jeera powder (or just 1 tsp dhaniya-jeera powder)

½ cup water

½ tsp dry mango/amchoor powder

¾ tsp salt + ¼ tsp sugar, or to taste

1. Heat oil in pan on medium heat, add cumin seeds, let sizzle, add dry red chilies & asafoetida

2. Saute fresh green beans for, let's say, 30 seconds

3. Add parboiled potatoes, saute for, let's say, 30 seconds

4. Add turmeric, chili, coriander, and cumin powders, saute till mixed well for, let's say, 30 seconds

5. Add water, cover and cook for about 3-4 minutes until green beans tender and cooked and water evaporates

6. Add dry mango powder, salt, sugar (optional), mix well.  Actually you can skip this step by adding these in Step 4 too, then end with Step 5.  Dry Aloo Beans ki Sabzi ready to eat with warm roti.

I have tried all kinds of variations to this basic potatoes with green beans, from adding a little sesame seed powder, to peanut powder, to some roasted peanuts in the end for a crunch.

Take a basic recipe, make your own variations.  Experiment all you want.  Then come back to tell me some of your interesting experiments.

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Meanwhile, on another day while looking for a different green beans recipe than this usual DRY aloo-beans ki sabji (potato-green beans stir fry), I came across this Green Beans in Tomato and Olive Oil recipe, originally from the book Classic Lebanese Cuisine by Chef Kamal Al-Faqih and can be found here.

My modifications: 
- halved the recipe
- used regular white onion instead of yellow
- instead of eating with pita bread, I ate it with paratha
- added some red chili powder

Suggestions:
- if you don't have condensed/thick tomato paste, you can use twice or thrice the amount of tomato puree and cook the dish till it thickens

This Green Beans in Tomato and Olive Oil (Green Beans in Tomato Gravy as I would like to call it) is a dish you would want to make on a regular day; not meant for a party.

Tell me some other favorite green bean recipes you have tried and liked.  If there is a good green beans recipe from your or someone else's website, paste the link in your comment below.
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