Butter beans curry | ambat

Butter beans is one of my very favorite beans. It has a very buttery melt in mouth taste and is a sure treat. And this is one of the costly beans after soya beans. It is not widely available everywhere and my aunts who visit Madurai would take bags of this beans when they return back to their place! Here in my place I am atleast fortunate to get canned butter beans. (Many seem to confuse lima beans for butter beans, but they are not...!)

This butter beans curry/ ambat is a very famous Sourashtra recipe. Yet another prominent one in Sourashtra lunch feasts. Now a days, many use butter beans in vegetable biryani preparation also and it comes out very tasty. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter beans (I used canned beans) 

1 medium sized potato (optional)

1 medium sized onion

2 medium sized tomato

2 garlic cloves (roughly crushed)

1 ts sambar powder + 1 ts kuzhambu podi

   (or) 1/4 ts turmeric powder, 1/2 ts chilli powder, 2 ts coriander powder

For tempering

1 ts mustard seed, 1/2 ts urad dal

1 red chilli, 1 green chilli

Few curry leaves

Few pinches of hing

Preparation

- Boil or microwave potatoes. After they turn cool enough to handle, cut them in rough cubes.

- Boil butter beans until half cooked. If using canned beans, then this step can be avoided. 

- Heat oil in a kadai. Once hot add mustard seed and urad dal. Allow them to crackle. Next add red chilli, green chilli and curry leaves. Add hing and give a quick toss. 

- Add chopped onions and cook until they turn translucent. 

- Now add one crushed garlic clove and fry a little.

- Now add chopped tomatoes with sufficient salt and the spice powders. Cook until tomatoes become mushy and oil seperates a little from the mixture. 

- Add the cubed potatoes and butter beans. Also add one crushed garlic clove. Add a cup of water. Mix everything well. After the curry boils, cook them in simmer until the curry is thickened.