It is not true that you can not grow your food when you are living in a city. You can easily do it and harvest chemical-free vegetables for your daily needs. Did you ever try to grow yardlong beans in containers? It is very easy but you need to do consistent care of your plants. But all your hard work will turn into happiness when you will make this aloo barbati curry prepared with homegrown fresh yardlong beans (long beans or snake beans).
This barbati curry with potatoes is a simple but delicious dish. You will love to have this with roti. I ate this awesome dish several times in my childhood. But when vegetables are grown in the rooftop garden and then prepared at your kitchen then is comparable to such dishes. Is this not true?
Particularly during this lockdown period, it becomes essential to engage ourselves in any activity what we can do without leaving our house. Gardening is such a thing which is good for health because you need to do a lot of physical activities and in return, you will get stress free healthy mind as well as healthy & fresh vegetables. So it is like double benefits.

I think this is the best time to start gardening. If you love homemade food then this is the time when you should grow your interest in homegrown food too. In case you are thinking that how you will get seeds, fertilizers, pesticide etc during this lockdown period then you should read this post too. You will get some ideas to build a garden during this lockdown period due to Coronavirus pandemic.
Also read:
Grow snake beans / long beans at the rooftop garden
My homegrown fruits & vegetables – April 2020
Okay, let’s talk about this aloo barbati curry. Though barbati aloo stir fry is also very popular but this aloo barbati curry is the best barbati based dish for roti. It is very nutritious. Barbati contains various types of vitamins & minerals. Young green barbati pods are consumed as a vegetable. But seeds of young barbati is consumed as lentils in many regions. But here in West Bengal, most people prefer to consume it as a vegetable.
Aloo Barbati Curry Recipe
- 15-18 yardlong beans/barbati, cut into 1 inch size pieces
- 2 medium size potatoes, cut into small size cubes
- 1 small size onion, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons panch phoron (whole mixed spices prepared with an equal portion of kalonji, mustard, saunf, methi & cumin seeds)
- 1.5 teaspoons turmeric /haldi powder
- 3 green chilies
- Salt to taste
- 1.5 cups water
- 1.5 tablespoons refined vegetable oil
- Handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
- Heat refined oil in a cooking pot and add panch phoron and saute till those seeds till raw aroma goes away
- Now add finely chopped onion and fry till it turns into light brown, spread salt
- Add barbati (yardlong beans) pieces and cook for next 2 minutes, add turmeric powder & potatoes too and cook for another 2-3 minutes
- Now pour water and boil it till potatoes & barbati are cooked
- Then cook few more minutes to adjust the gravy
- Add finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and switch off the flame & serve hot or warm with roti
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