Tel Shim (Hyacinth Beans in mustard gravy)

What do you see in my pictures? I don’t know what your answer would be but I see embarrassment. Yes, am embarrassed to click food, more so in the presence of anybody else except hubby. That’s why many a times I had spent hours in cooking an elaborate meal but could not click a single picture.forget about setting the scene with props and all,  am mortified even to utter the word food blog in front of friends and relatives. Yes!very few people know about my online avatar.

For instance this dish that I cooked when my Ma-n-law visited us in Bangalore. With the bounty that my hyacinth bean vine blessed me almost everyday was almost impossible to manage. How much hyacinth bean can you eat or share with your friends. Recipes are limited and picky eaters don’t even touch this vegetable. So when My MIL was there I made this tel shim for lunch. She loved it and dint touch any other dish that day. So after a couple of days I cooked it again and this time when she was taking bath I quickly

Clicking picture was really difficult in our Bangalore home, which was a single storied independent house. Except the main entrance door we dint get ample natural light elsewhere. So everytime I wanted to take picture I had to move the table and everything to the front door. Trust me it was very uncomfortable to take pictures that way.  Imagine a house situated on a road, a door 100 meteres away from the gate where a woman is bringing plates and spoons on a table near the door. Looking through the camera, putting another ladle of curry, scattering some flowers around the bowl. Wont you stop and watch the scene in utter disbelief? Trust me every time I did so I was mortified to think if someone comes and asks what would I reply. Remember the scene from the movie sex and the city where Charlotte rehearses how to show her hatred to Big by saying ‘I curse the day you were born’. In the similar fashion I rehearsed to reply the passers by, by saying ‘I am a Food blogger’.

So that mock proud food blogger today present to you a lousily clicked photo of a real delicious curry called tel shim. Tel in Bengali means oil and shim are the hyacinth beans. This dish is supposed to have oil oozing out from the gravy, which means lot of oil. If you are interested in having it the authentic way please feel free to use 3-4 tbsp oil. But I prefer to have a lighter version for everyday meal. Reserve that for some special occasion luncheons.


Between if you love Shim, you can check this recipe of mine too


Shim Bata or Spicy Hyacinth Beans Paste

Read More...

Tel Shim

Ingredients:

Hyacinth beans: 18-20 pieces

Mustard paste: 11/2 tbsp; please adjust according to your taste. We Bengalis are in love with mustard and we love the heat of this spice. For beginners I would suggest to use less.

Nigella seeds; 1/3 tsp

Green chillies: 2-3 pieces

Mustard oil: 1 tbsp

Salt

Turmeric

Sugar: ¼ tsp

Method:

Cut the edges of the beans and remove the hair on both sides. With a fork poke the beans at 2-3 places. Wash and boil with a pinch of salt and turmeric for 5 minutes or till half cooked.

Drain the water and keep the beans aside.

Heat the oil in a pan or kadhai. Once its smoking hot reduce the flame and add the nigella seeds and slited green chillies. Be careful the spice will splutter a lot. Add the drained beans, pinch of salt and turmeric.

Fry on very low flame for 3-4 minutes or till the raw smell of the beans are gone.

Mix the mustard paste with ¾ cup water. Pour the ater in the pan. Make sure the mustard skin is not added.

Check the seasoning and let it cook and thinken. The gravy would be little more after coating the beans and the oil should start coming out.

Pour few drops of pure mustard oil on top. Mix and serve.

Serve with steamed rice.

Tags:

hyacinth bean, beans, country beans, broad beans, sem, shim, sim, country beans with mustard, mustard gravy, how to make bengali mustard gravy, beans in mustard, beans and mustard, mustard paste, simer jhal, sim sorshe, sorisha sim, shimer tarkari, shimer jhal, tel shim, kancha lonka shim, shim bata, shim posto, how to cook broad beans, indian beans curry, indian broad beans in gravy, east indian style country beans, bangladeshi cooking, bangladeshi beans recipe.