This simple recipe is a version of a classic tomato curry and makes a decent side with rotis or rice. Fresh long beans are blanched to tenderness and simmered with caramelized onions, tomatoes and garlic to deliver a hearty, warm curry. This recipe works with most stringy beans.

Barbati aka yard long beans are a regular fare at the local market though they hardly make an appearance at our dining table. This morning as Nehal was leaving for school, a young mobile vegetable vendor, greeted us at our doorstep to sell farm-fresh long beans, ridge gourd and raw plantains. These vegetables among others are grown on his small piece land situated in a village 28 kms away from Vizag.