Green Vatana or dried green peas can be used in making soups, usal which is a Konkan dish, bhaji or a curry. It is packed with protein. ¼ cup of vatana has 9.9 g of protein. My favorite way of eating vatana is the Bengali way of how I cook Ghugni . It is very flavorful and is cooked like a regular curry. Serve this with rice and a simple cucumber salad. The recipe needs a bit of prep and like all other dried beans you need to soak the beans for 8 hours or overnight @sarchakra
PREP TIME: 10 mins plus soaking overnight
COOK TIME: 30 mins
YIELDS: Serves 6
Ingredients
- Vatana Green 2 cups
- Salt
- Turmeric 2 tsp
- Cinnamon 1 inch stick
- Cloves 2
- Green cardamom 1
- Dried red chilies 2
- Onion 1, large, finely chopped
- Ginger paste 1 tbsp
- Garlic paste 1 tbsp
- Cumin seeds 1 tbsp
- Tomato 1, large, finely chopped
- Red chili powder 1 tbsp
- Paprika 2 tsp
- Cumin powder 1 tbsp
- Coriander powder 1 tbsp
- Bengali Garam Masala powder (see below) 2 tsp
- Coriander leaf 3 tbsp, finely chopped
- Lemon juice 2 tbsp
Method
- Soak Vatana beans overnight in 4 cups of water. Discard water and rinse the beans. Put beans in the pressure cooker. Add salt, turmeric and 3 cups of water. Cook in the pressure cooker for one whistle. Let the pressure release by itself.
- Heat oil. Temper cumin seeds, cloves, green cardamom, cinnamon and whole red chilies. Sauté for a minute. Put in chopped onion. Cook till onion is translucent and starts to take on color. Add ginger and garlic paste. Add red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder. Once the raw smell of the ginger and garlic goes and the onions start to caramelize, add chopped tomato.
- Cook the tomatoes till they are mushy. Slightly mash them with a potato masher so it integrates into the sauce. Once the oil starts to leave the sides of the pan, add the cooked Vatana. Add a cup of water to adjust the consistency of the gravy.
- Add Bengali Garam Masala. Stir gently. Turn the heat off. Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaf and some lemon juice.
Notes
Bengali Garam Masala powder has only 3 essential ingredients: green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves.
Vatana cooks very quickly in the pressure cooker once it is soaked. Do not cook for more than 1 whistle otherwise you will be left with a mashed potato consistency!
sarchakra 