To those who have never made Indian food (or have tried and failed), it might be a little shocking to hear that you can easily make a very delicious curry in under 10 minutes. I promise – it can be done. No expensive lessons required.

Serves: 3-4 (more as side dish)

Prep time: 7-10 minutes

Ingredients

• 16 ounces fresh french/green beans (do not use frozen or canned beans)
• black mustard seeds
• turmeric
• hing/asafoetida (readily available at Indian grocery stores or even on Amazon)
• red chilli powder (do not use cayenne pepper)
• salt
• kala masala (a spice mix particular to Maharastra)
• sugar
• cilantro leaves
• fresh shredded coconut (not the dried kind you use for baking or putting on ice cream, you can find it frozen in indian stores)

Method

1. Add three tablespoons of canola oil to a pan and heat over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until hot.
2. Wash the green beans and trim off the tips on each end.
3. Cut the green beans into roughly 1 1/2 inch lengths.
4. Add a 1/2 teaspoon each of mustard seeds, turmeric, and hing to the oil and fry the spices under the mustard seeds begin to pop.
5. Add the green beans to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until they are bright green and crisp, but not tough to bite into.
6. Remove the pan from heat and add a pinch of salt and sugar, a 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder, 1 heaping teaspoon kala masala, and a dash of water.
7. Garnish with fresh coconut and coriander leaves.
8. Serve hot and enjoy!

Looking for other great bhajis (Marathi vegetable curries)? When cooking for a big group, I serve often serve this with Matar usal (peas), Palakchi bhaji (spinach), or Flower chi bhaji (cauliflower) and Toor dal (yellow lentils) for protein.