Beans Thoran / Beans poriyal / Indian style beans recipe

Are you one of those people who find green beans bland and boring? Do you have a tough time getting your family members to eat their beans? This Green beans thoran or beans masala sabji will be sure to change your minds. Forget the boring beans recipe that you are used to and give this aromatic masaledar beans a try.

So what is unique about this beans recipe?

Thorans / poriyals are a traditional way of cooking vegetables in southern part of India. It is basically vegetables with a tadka of spices like mustard seeds, cumin and chillies, topped with some coconut. But this beans thoran / poriyal is slightly different. Apart from the usual tadka of spices, we add an aromatic spicy coconut masala paste to make it even more flavorful. I have friends who swear they never do beans any other way after I told them this beans thoran / poriyal recipe

This beans recipe tastes great as a side or when mixed with some rice and ghee / sesame oil

This beans thoran is super tasty. You can adjust the amount of chillies as per your family’s preference. I can assure you this will taste nothing like your usual beans recipe. I have tried the same recipe with cabbage, peas and carrots and they worked well too.

Not a fan of cilantro / coriander? Worry not!

This recipe uses a lot of cilantro for that oomph flavor. As a big cilantro lover and someone who uses it almost in all my recipes, it was a no brainer. I knew my family would love it.

But there are some people who do not like to have cilantro leaf / stalks while chewing or there are some who just hate the smell of it. If you just don’t like the texture of it, then worry not, as they get ground up with the coconut and you can hardly feel them. But if you are one of those people who hates cilantro, I would suggest substituting it with parsley or curry leaves. Curry leaves would give it a South Indian flavor, while parsley would make it an Indian – mediterranean fusion which I am sure you will love.

Below you will find the step by step pictures for making this recipe

First lets get all the ingredients for this recipe

We first make a make a coarse paste of the cilantro / coriander, green chillies and coconut and set it aside. Then we make a tadka with spices like mustard seeds, asafoetida, urad dal.

Then you add the chopped beans , some salt, turmeric and cook until the beans are soft and tender.

When the beans are cooked add the ground coconut, cilantro paste and mix well. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

I have been eating beans thoran this way since my childhood and my mom never had any problems getting us to eat beans. It is either this or our traditional Paruppu usli ( beans with spiced lentil mixture) that used to get made often in our house.

The texture and flavor of the beans really sets this recipe apart from all the others out there. You can have it as a side or eat it as such with rice / roti or like a salad. It gets ready in no time making it perfect for a busy weeknight / weekday meal.

Have an Instant pot or an electric cooker?

This recipe can be done in no time using your Instant pot or pressure cookers as well. In fact I use my pressure cooker to cook my beans 80% of the time. It is fast, healthy and involves very little effort from my part.

Want to make this in the instant pot? Check out the recipe for the same using instant pot here – Instant pot Beans masala kari

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