Butter Beans & Purple Yam in Herb Chimichurri
FRESH BUTTER BEANS & ROASTED PURPLE YAM IN HERB CHIMICHURRI
It would seem as though the spirit of Ottolenghi joined me in the kitchen today & inspired this FRESH BUTTER BEANS & PURPLE YAM SALAD W/ HERB CHIMICHURRI. Doesn't it look like something you'd find in one of his cookbooks; veggie forward, gorgeous contrasting colors, paired brilliantly with herbs?
Truth is, I found vaal (butter beans) and ratalu (purple yam) shaak recipe in a vintage Gujarati cookbook (see image below). By mere happenstance, I had fresh butter beans sourced from farmer’s market and there were bunches of fresh herbs in the fridge calling my name. And almost always will you find purple yam from @deepindiankitchen in my freezer. So I decided it was my duty to yield to the calling and bring all these wondrous beings, into being - into one gorgeous warm side/salad.
What I esp. like about this is how it has enabled me to see purple yam in a different light - it's almost as if long ago, purple yam made an unbreakable vow to be never seen anything more or less than an ingredient to the melange of winter vegetables, called Undhiyu. I enjoyed breaking that stereotype and I hope you will enjoy the dish that is not only a beauty on the plate, but a bomb of herby flavor combined with buttery beans and starchy, sweet but savory purple yam.
RATALU VAAL RECIPE IN A VINTAGE GUJARATI COOKBOOK
FRESH BUTTER BEANS & ROASTED PURPLE YAM IN HERB CHIMICHURRI
serves 2 as a side, 1 as a salad
YOU WILL NEED
Veggies
1 cup fresh or canned butter beans
2 cup water
1 cup chopped purple yam
1.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp powder of freshly ground black pepper
Chimichurri
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 packed mixed herbs with tender leaves separated - italian parsley, bits of mint, some dill, and cilantro
1 tiny clove of garlic
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 serrano chili
pinch sugar
METHOD
Chimichurri
Start with the assorted mix of herbs. Instead of prescribing the proportion of each herb to use, I recommend you pick your favorite 3-4 herbs in order of preference, wash them thoroughly, separate the leaves roughly from the stem, discarding thick stems and measure a packed 1/2 cup and set aside. The stems can be frozen to use later on in broth making or in curries/soup to impart flavor.
Combine mixed herbs, lemon zest and juice, oil, sugar, and salt in a blender and pulse until chopped.
Butter Beans
If using fresh butter beans, shuck them to make a cup of beans. Boil them in salted water until tender not mushy.
For canned butter beans, drain and rinse 1 cup.
Purple Yam
The recipe uses Deep Indian Kitchen’s frozen chopped Purple Yam (Ratalu). I pan roasted the 1 cup of purple yam in a tbsp of oil on medium heat until cooked, and increased heat to medium-high and allowed the yam to brown on all sides. Make sure you stir yam occasionally to avoid sticking to the pan.
In case you are using fresh purple yam, chop, drizzle tablespoon of oil, sprinkle salt and oven roast them for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F in a preheated oven
Assembly
In a large bowl, add roasted purple yam, cooked butter beans and chimichurri. Add 1 tbsp black pepper powder and mix everything well. Taste again to adjust salt. Finish it off with an extra drizzle of EVOO. Serve warm as a side or by itself!