A few weeks ago, I was trying to find something different to make with green beans. Everything was boring – meaning, I knew what the taste would be like. Finally, on BBC Good Food website, I saw a Sri Lankan bean curry recipe. The ingredients were all familiar but I was intrigued by the flavours. Inspired by that recipe, I decided to make my own version with my own twists.

This is a spicy and incredibly delicious dish. The spices kind of put a hole in my stomach (only because I have all kinds of stomach problems) but it was so delicious and flavourful that I couldn’t stop eating. It’s almost an addictive recipe – I made it many times in the past few weeks and I could make it more, but I had to stop for a while to rest my stomach!

In this recipe, I used spice mix ras el hanout. I bought mine from Alanya market in Itäkeskus. You can also find it in spice section of big S-market, K-market and sometimes even in Alepa. Otherwise, check ethnic shops.

I used beans of different colours and varieties – there is the green bean “haricot vert” where you find easily in many shops, purple string beans and yellow wax beans which are very similar to haricot vert. I found them by chance in Food Market in Stockmann and decided to make a mixture of beans. If you can’t find these different versions, just use green beans. Enjoy!
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Ingredients:

Difficulty: Easy
(serves 3-4)

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
4 garlic cloves, mashed
2 tbsp + 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tsp brown mustard seeds
2 large potatoes, diced (don’t cut very small cubes, make them a little big)
750 gr. bean mixture: green beans, purple string beans, yellow wax beans*
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ras el hanout spice mix**
1 tsp salt
juice from 1 lime
1 tsp red peppe flakes

*Read the story above for details about beans.
**Read the story above for details.

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1. Put the first 4 ingredients in the ingredients list above, plus one of the 2 tbsp olive oil in a food processor and process until you have a bit chunky paste.

2. In a large pot, put the other 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tsp brown mustard seeds on medium high heat. Stir until mustard seeds start to crackle.

3. Add onion paste and stir a little to mix with olive oil and mustard seeds.

4. Add potatoes and stir until they are mixed well with the other ingredients in the pan.

5. Add beans and stir.

6. Add coconut milk, stir and cover the pot. Let it boil.

7. When the curry is boiling, add the remaining ingredients, stir and cover it again, then decrease the heat to medium. Cook the curry, stirring frequently to prevent sticking to the base of the pot, until the beans are cooked well. Enjoy just by itself or with rice as a side dish.