Aloo beans, also known as beans ki sabzi is an Indian stir fry recipe made with French beans and potatoes. This easy Indian-style green beans recipe is vegan and gluten-free.
Unlike what's served in most Indian restaurants, Indian home-cooked meals are very simple and nutritious. Generally, any Indian major meal comprises one vegetable dish called sabzi, one dish made with legumes called dal, roti, or rice, and a few side dishes like raita, salad, chutney, or pickle.
On a regular day, this is what almost every Indian eats. There might be variations in the way these dishes are cooked depending upon the region but the main components remain the same.
Today, I am sharing a very easy sabzi recipe called Aloo beans ki sabzi. It's made with potatoes, French beans, and a few spices.
This French beans dish is made in every region of India but I am sharing the way it's cooked in North India. Other regions may have a slightly different way of making it.
What goes in aloo beans?
To make a simple aloo beans ki sabzi, you will need the ingredients shown below:
Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions
- Beans: I have used French beans as that's one of the most commonly eaten green beans in India but you can use any type of green beans in this recipe.
- Whole spices: I have used both cumin seeds and mustard seeds but you can make it with either of them.
- Dried mango powder: Dried mango powder, more commonly known as amchoor powder is used in a lot of Indian dishes to add a sour taste to them. It can be bought from the spice section of an Indian grocery store. It's also easily available online. If you can't find dried mango powder, add some fresh lime juice once beans aloo is cooked.
How to make (step by step instructions)?
Step 1: Heat oil in a cooking pot. Add cumin and black mustard seeds. Saute for a few seconds.
Step 2: Add chopped garlic and saute for another few seconds or until the raw smell of garlic goes away and it starts turning brown.
Step 3: Add chopped potatoes.
Step 4: Saute for 1-2 minutes.
Step 5: Add chopped French beans, green chilies, and salt.
Step 6: Mix everything.
Steps 7 and 8: Cover the pot and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Keep stirring after every 5-7 minutes. The potatoes should be nicely cooked but the beans taste better if they remain slightly crunchy.
Step 9: Add red chili powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder.
Step 10: Mix everything.
Step 11: Cook uncovered for another 1-2 minutes.
Step 12: Finally, add dried mango powder and mix.
Your simple Indian-style French beans- aloo beans ki sabzi is ready to be enjoyed.
Serving suggestions
Beans ki sabzi can be served in any Indian major meal.
For breakfast, it's generally served with an Indian bread like roti or paratha.
For lunch or dinner, it can be served as a side dish with any Indian bread as well as rice and a dal like chana dal, masoor dal, or sabut moong dal.
How to store?
To store, transfer the dish to an airtight container once it reaches room temperature. Refrigerate for 2-3 days.
Can you freeze it?
Though freezing cooked food is generally not practiced in India, and people prefer eating freshly cooked food, if you want, you can freeze this dish in zip lock bags or freezer safe containers for 3-4 months.
Recipe tips & tricks
- Don't add water to cook this dish otherwise, it will turn mushy. The beans should remain slightly crunchy.
- You can also add sliced or finely chopped onion to beans ki sabzi after adding garlic. Just cook it for a few minutes until it turns translucent before adding potatoes.
- Use a heavy-bottomed pot to cook this dish as we are cooking it without water.
- Add salt before covering the pot, it will help the vegetables in releasing moisture. The vegetables that get cooked in their own moisture taste better than the ones that are cooked in water.
- Don't add powdered spices until the dish is cooked otherwise they will start sticking to the pot and will make it difficult to cook the dish without water.
- Add dried mango powder or lime juice only once the beans aloo is cooked. Adding a sour ingredient slows down the cooking process.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can make beans ki sabzi with frozen beans. Don't thaw the beans, add them directly to the dish.
Yes, you can follow the exact recipe to make Indian-style cluster beans or any other green beans.
Yes, amchoor powder is the powdered form of sun-dried raw green mangoes so, it's gluten-free.
More easy Indian vegetable (sabzi) recipes
If you also want to cook an Indian vegetarian meal at home then you might try one of the following Indian vegetable recipes:
- Aloo Matar
- Bhindi Masala
- Kerala style pepper mushroom
- Aloo baingan
- Gobhi matar methi
- Cabbage poriyal
- Aloo Bhindi
- Aloo matar gajar
- Indian style curried turnips
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Aloo beans
Equipment
- 1 Cooking pot
Ingredients
- 350 grams French beans chopped into around 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium-sized potato chopped into 1-inch long pieces
- 1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1-2 hot green chili peppers finely chopped, adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon dried mango powder (amchoor powder) optional, you can also replace it with around 1.5 tablespoons of lime juice
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil or any other cooking oil of choice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter in hot oil.
- Add finely chopped garlic and saute until its raw smell goes away and it starts turning brown.
- Add potato and saute for about 1-2 minutes.
- Next, add French beans, green chilies, and salt. Mix everything.
- Cover the pot. Cook for around 12-15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Keep checking and stirring after every 5-7 minutes to make sure it's not sticking to the pot.
- Add red chili powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder. Mix and cook uncovered for another 1-2 minutes.
- Finally, add dried mango powder and mix.
Notes
- Use a heavy-bottomed or non-stick pan to make this dish.
- Don't make very thick and large pieces of potato otherwise they will take more time to get cooked.
- Don't add water to cook this dish otherwise, it will turn mushy. The beans should remain slightly crunchy.
- You can also add sliced onion to aloo beans. Just cook it for a few minutes until it turns translucent before adding potatoes.
- Don't add powdered spices until the dish is cooked otherwise they will start sticking to the pot, making it very difficult to cook the dish without water.
- Add dried mango powder or lime juice only once the dish is cooked.
- You can use any type of beans like cluster beans, string beans, flat beans, etc.
- More recipe tips and tricks are given within the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.
Simple and great recipe!
Instruction # 4 and Notes # 3 points contradicting though.
Thanks a lot, Harshad. You were right, I have made the correction now. Thanks for pointing that out.
Hi,
Normally asafoetida is not gluten-free and if you adding it in the recipe, it can't be gluten free.
Hi Rohan, naturally asafoetida is gluten-free but you are also right that a lot of brands add flour to it which makes it not suitable for people on a gluten-free diet. I will put a note in my recipe card for the convenience of people.