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Guvar nu shaak
Cluster beans with garlic and jaggery
Guvar nu shaak: Gujarati cluster beans with ajwain, garlic, jaggery and lemon
Guvar (cluster beans) is everyday Gujarati shaak, cooked in Kathiawad and Ahmedabad homes most weeks with bajra rotla or rotli and a bowl of khadhi. The flat, slightly bitter beans are steamed in their pan with ajwain and garlic, then balanced the Gujarati way with a little jaggery and a squeeze of lemon, so every mouthful is gently sweet, sour and spicy. The mistake to avoid is using old, thick guvar; the pods should snap cleanly, and tough ones stay stringy however long you cook them. Chef's tip: a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the cooking water is an old trick for keeping guvar green, but it is not needed if you keep the lid off at the end. Most hing contains wheat, so buy a gluten-free one if needed.
- Total time
- 28 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 3
Ingredients
- 10 ½ oz cluster beans (guvar)tops and tails snapped off, cut into 2.5 cm pieces
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
- ½ tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
- ⅛ tsp asafoetida (hing)gluten-free variety
- 4 cloves garliccrushed
- ½ cup water
Spices
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp jaggerygrated
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¾ tsp salt
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Rinse 10 ½ oz cluster beans (guvar) and check a few pods: they should snap crisply. Drain well.
Step 2: Heat 2 tbsp groundnut oil in a heavy pan over a medium heat. Add ½ tsp carom seeds (ajwain) and let it sizzle for 15 seconds, then add ⅛ tsp asafoetida (hing) and 4 cloves garlic and stir for 30 seconds until the garlic is pale gold.
1 minStep 3: Add the beans, ¼ tsp ground turmeric and ¾ tsp salt and toss for 1 minute. Pour in ½ cup water, cover, and cook over a low-medium heat for 10–12 minutes, stirring twice, until the beans are tender when pressed and the water has almost gone.
12 minStep 4: Uncover and sprinkle in 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 ½ tsp coriander-cumin powder (dhana jeeru) and 1 tsp jaggery. Stir-fry for 2–3 minutes until the jaggery melts and the spices coat the beans with no liquid left in the pan.
3 minStep 5: Turn off the heat, stir in 1 tbsp lemon juice and serve with rotli or bajra rotla.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 110 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 10 g
- Fat
- 7 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does guvar nu shaak take?
- About 28 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 18 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 3 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of asafoetida (hing)?
- A pinch each of garlic powder and onion powder (asafoetida stands in for onion and garlic).
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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