Thoran - Cabbage and String beans

This is the traditional malayali preparation of thoran. Usually, we use vegetables like beans, cabbage etc individually, or combine carrots, cabbage , beetroot etc together.

I got some very tender string beans which could have been used in another preparation, but since I had some grated coconut handy, I made the thoran. And just to put a different twist on it, added some cabbage too..

String bean is achinga in malayalam, and karamani in tamil. To avoid any more confusion, I am adding a picture I got from the web..there are many varieties of string beans, but what i made looked exactly like those in the picture.

String beans - 1/4 kilo
Cabbage - 1/4 kilo

chop both vegetables into the tiniest pieces.

Coconut - grated (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
Green chillies - 2
Small onions- 3 to 5 (peeled)
Jeera/ cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
lightly grind the coconut and the rest of the ingredients. 2 to 3 pulses in a dry grinder should be sufficient.

Turmeric - 1/ 4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Add the above ingredients, the ground coconut, to the chopped vegetables and mix well.

In a kadai, add
oil - 2 tbsp

temper with
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Raw rice - 1 tsp
Dry red chillies - 2 (broken)
Curry leaves - 3 stalks, leaves separated.

Put the chopped vegetables, close the lid and steam for about 5 to 10 minutes. Mix well and take off the stove.