Shim Bata (Spicy Hyacinth beans paste)

This Hyacinth vine of mine is in my backyard and in its 2 years of life it has totally acquired all the three mango trees. But I don’t complain as it gives a harvest that not only me but the families of my cousin and all the friends can’t finish. I have provided tem with so much of beans that they are almost scared of me and the other day I heard a friend telling his wife ‘Eire Boudi asche, abar shim debe”  (again Sis-in-law is coming to give us more beans). (Yes I heard you ‘S’). but trust me am not affended at all…am never with the produce of my garden, and especially when it offers a bounty so selflessly all year around. Also for me the added advantage is the vision of some pretty purple blooms from my kitchen window.

But the problem is what to cook. Almost every other day am cooking something with this vegetables like charchari, shim posto (hyacinth beans fried with poppy seeds paste), shim-er jhal (hyacinth beans in spicy mustard gravy) etc. Then last year my masimoni (aunt: Mother’s Sister) gave me this recipe. A very authentic Bengali recipe with our most favourite mustard paste. When she narrated this recipe to me I wasn’t excited much but my opinion changed once I tried this. Hubby loved it so much that when he feels like going out to the backyard in helping me picking the beans from the top most branches (which happens once in a blue moon) he demands this dish.  

Here is the recipe

Shim Bata

Ingredients:

Hyacinth beans: 1 cup tightly packed

Potato: 1 medium

Mustard paste: 1 tbsp

Poppy seeds paste: 1 tbsp

Nigella seeds: 1/3 tsp

Green chillis: 2

Oil: 2 tbsp (I use saffola gold and mustard oil in 1:1 ratio, you can even cook with olive oil which tastes great too)

Salt

Turmeric

Bori/Wadi/ sundried lentil dumplings: handful

Method:

Boil the potato and mash when its still warm.

Chop off the two sides of the beans and cut in 2. Blanch it for 5-6 minutes in salted water. Drain and mash coarsely. Alternativel you can also microwave it and then grind it to a coarse paste.

Now heat the oil and fry the boris till light brown. Drain and crumble lightly. Set aside.

In the same oil add the nigella seeds and slit green chilies. Once they release the aroma add the mashed beans, potato, salt and turmeric. On low flame cook it by stirring continuously. This will take 3-4 minutes to become dry.

Add the mustard-poppy seeds paste and mix properly. Keep on frying this on low heat. Don’t stop stirring the whole mixture as that will result in burning at the bottom.

Once you see the mixture is dry and tiny drops of oil appear on the surface switch off the flame.

Spread it over a plate or shallow dish. Sprinkle the crumbled fried bori on top and serve hot with steamed rice.

we enjoy it with rice, Lentil and fish curry on weekends.

Here is another Begali style green vegetable paste recipe shared by our very talented Ushnishda.

Tags:

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