Goan Guar Beans are an Indian side dish, commonly served with rice and curry.
You can serve this side dish with most Indian Thali-style rice and curry meals.
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📕 What are Guar Beans?
Guar or Cluster beans look just like green beans, but they are more bright green and they are flatter.
In India, it is a very common vegetable, and in the last decades, this bean variety has been receiving some extra attention from the Industrial world for its “gum” (i.e., guar gum)
Besides that, it is commonly sold in Indian markets as a fresh vegetable produce.
Look out for these international terms and Guar bean terms in grocery stores and markets: Gaur, Gavar, Guwar, Guar, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba and cluster beans.
🥘 What is this dish?
In India, cluster beans/ guar beans are braised or stir-fried with spices. Cluster beans taste a bit of bitter, even after cooking.
Regional varieties call this side dish by different names, such as gawar sabzi, gavar bhaji or in Goa they call it chitjo mitjo bhaji.
I found that, different communities in the state of Goa may prepare this dish as per their customs. So, variations do exist.
This side dish is then served along with rice, curry, other small quantities of vegetable side dishes, pickle, and pan-fried fish or seafood. It's a staple weekday meal.
A complete dish like this is known as a Thali, and it's most commonly served as a lunch or dinner meal.
🧅 Ingredients
- Oil
- Onion
- Tomato
- Cluster Beans aka Guar Beans — Fresh beans are difficult to come by in Western countries. You might encounter these beans in an Indian or Asian specialty store. Another idea is to grow cluster beans in your garden with cluster bean seeds purchased online.
- Water
- Salt
- Black Pepper — ground
- Turmeric — ground powder
- Ginger and Garlic Paste — or Ginger finely grated and garlic taken through the garlic press.
- Green Chili Pepper — fresh, elongated green Asian chili variety. Not Jalapeños.
- Coconut Raw — only freshly shredded coconut should be used here. You can get a coconut from the store and take out the white coconut pieces. The white pulp then needs to be taken through a food processor to shred it small. OR shred coconuts like Indians, but you will need a special coconut scraper tool.
Truthfully, the easiest way to recreate this dish is when in India. You will easily find all the ingredients in a small neighborhood store.
I definitely recommend renting a small flat with a kitchen on a trip to India. That way, you can experiment and learn to cook with local ingredients.
🔪 How to make it?
Goan Bhaji side dishes are a great entry-level dish to learn cooking food from the western coast of India.
Step 1
Prep the beans by cutting off the ends. Slice onion, dice tomato and slit open green chili.
Step 2
Heat up oil in a pan and cook onion, tomato and green chili pepper soft.
Stir in guar beans, and follow up with the water and remaining seasoning ingredients.
Step 3
Cook everything until the beans a cooked and no water remains in the pan.
Take from the heat and mix in grated fresh coconut and serve up hot as a side dish.
📖 Recipe
Goan Guar Beans Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 Ounces Guar Beans aka Cluster Beans
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 Tomato diced
- 1 Green Chili Pepper ground
- 1 Tablespoon Oil canola, vegetable or sunflower oil
- ½ Cup Water
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
- ½ Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic paste or finely grated
- 3 Tablespoon Coconut Raw Freshly Shredded
Instructions
- Prepare the cluster beans. Rinse the beans, cut off the ends and slice the beans into smaller ½ inch pieces.8 Ounces Guar Beans
- Slice onion, dice tomato, slit open green chili pepper in half.1 Onion, 1 Tomato, 1 Green Chili Pepper
- Heat up a pan with oil and sauté onion slices over a medium heat setting.1 Tablespoon Oil
- Stir in tomato pieces and the slit open green chili pepper. Cover the pan with a lid and cook covered for 2 minutes to soften the tomato.
- Add the cluster bean pieces and mix them in.
- Cover the beans with the water. Season with salt, black pepper, turmeric and ginger garlic. Mix it well.½ Cup Water, ½ Teaspoon Salt, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground, ½ Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic
- Cook for about 10–15 minutes over a medium-high heat setting uncovered, until the vegetables are cooked through but not mushy overcooked. There should be no liquid left in your pan.
- When done cooking, take from the heat and mix in the shredded coconut.3 Tablespoon Coconut Raw Freshly Shredded
- Serve hot as a side dish with Goan or Indian meals.
Notes
Nutrition
🍴 Serving
Traditionally, Goans serve this guar bean side dish with cooked Goan rice and red curries, such as fish curry or sorak curry.
It's an affordable vegetarian side dish, and a combination meal with curry rice and other side dishes is known as a Thali in India.
Every region in India has a Thali version of their own. These are whole weekday lunch or dinner meals.
This particular guar bean side dish is a Goan Bhaji (from the state of Goa) and locals eat it with fish curry, pan-fried fish or seafood, pickles and other vegetable bhaji.
I like spiced guar beans with Goan Masoor dal lentils and with mackerel para fish.
🍱 Storing
I prep this dish whenever we are in Goa for 5 months. We have it for lunch and the rest is meal prepped for the week.
I recommend storing them in a rectangular airtight glass container. They keep well for over 6 days in the fridge.
To warm up, I simply place the glass container in the oven for a short time. But you can also reheat them over the stove top in a pan or in the microwave.
👁️ More Indian vegetable side dishes
- Goan Kokum Okra Bhaji
- Goan Spiced Ivy Gourd
- Goan Red Amaranth (Tambdi Bhaji)
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Kris says
my sugar goes up with guvar..it varies from individual to individual..i stay away from it
Helene Dsouza says
Interesting, that's the first time I hear this and I am not sure how this would come to happen. Thanks for your comment, it's good to be aware. 🙂
MS.Manpreet. says
Hi, I also want to share some thing important about this vegetable. which can be helpful to lot of people in India and other countries. I am 16 years old and diabetic from last ( 6 years/type 1 ). I had acute constipation problem+ lot of bleeding in stool. My C-peptide was very low, also with very low hemoglobin. though I am very fair but i use to look very pale skinny with dark circle below my eyes..I had lost 14 kg weight in past 2 years. In other words , due to diabetes my pancreas was not giving out any insulin inside my body and I was always loosing weight.
In 2011 our family friend asked my mother to start my treatment from sb sidh for diabetes. I was not aware who was this Sb sidh. it took me 3 months time to start the treatment. My name was in waiting list for 3 months. apointment. I started my herbal treatment from well known SB SIDH from INDIA in Maharashtra state. After 7-8 months of herbal medicine from SB sidh , my herbal medication was stopped and I was asked to stop insulin. I was injecting insulin between 36 unit to 50 unit and also having 4 tablets to reduce sugar level before starting herbal medicine.. after starting herbal medicine which was made by sb sidh my injecting Insulin was reduced gradually in 8 months treatment.
later I was asked to take 1day yougurt+ Gavar juice and 2nd day I was asked to consume gavar juice + 2 cashew nut powder + 1/4spoon papaya milk..
I was also asked to eat baked ladyfinger( okra) and gavar.
Mr SB SIDH put all his efforts to reverse my diabetes and make me stand on feet without artificial insulin. I also want to mention, my constipation has been cleared and I have gained 9kg weight in last 18 months. I just want to say to my friends, vegetables really do wonders and vegetables are capable to change sick person life to healthy life.
I still eat Gavaar vegetable which helps me to be healthy.
Thankx
Helene Dsouza says
Hi there!
Thank you for sharing your experience with the vegetable and I completely agree, vegetables help us to stay healthy and they improve our health. We often forget that common foods can help us to get better and your story is just another testament of that. I am glad to hear that you are feeling better after all. By the way, have you heard of a plant called Insulin plant? We have it growing in my garden and it is said that i regulates the blood sugar levels in the body.
Nayana B Leuva says
IF TADAKA OF AJAMA SEEDS ( Carom seeds ) IS USED FOR THIS RECIPE IT MAKES VERY TESTY AND IT GETS RID OF BITTER TEST OF SUBJEE . NO NEED TO ADD ANY SWEETNER , SUGAR THOSE WHO DISLIKE SWEET TEST OF THE CLUSTER SBJEE. TRY IT & SHARE IT PL.
Helene Dsouza says
Oh I didn't know that the seeds do that. Need to check it out. Thank you for letting us know here Nayana =)
bmniac says
This is a large crop in the Gujarat/Rajasthan area. Prices had increased as it is increasingly in demand in the petroleum industry for "fracking" and in the food industry esp for icecream. It is a great source of soluble fibre
which is excellent for the heart.(reduces cholesteral) Apart from the way the Rajasthani,Gujerati and the Hindi belt cooking, it has a pride of place in a variety of traditional dishes esp. among the Brahmins of Tamilnadu and Palghat.
Minnie@thelady8home says
I have a confession to make - I dislike Guar, and nothing will induce me to make a sabzi out of it lol!!! Having said that, I always love how you discover these beautiful little gems about the most pedestrian of things imaginable. Today I learned so many things about a vegetable I always disregarded. Thanks so much Helene, for being you!!
kumar says
ohhh this is very fiber rich vegitable and the dried bean used for guar gum powder....this is wonder food 1 and one more is elephant yam, has very rich fiber in it...this is wonder food 2, these 2 foods are used to make dietary pills so price is going up!!
baker street says
Okay honestly, I do like guar! I make it very simply in mustard seeds and turmeric but this version must be tried the next time I make it. 🙂
Sissi says
Guar gum is something I often see on packages of food! It's incredible to see it here in its natural form. I had no idea it was a bean. Thank you for sharing the information about richness of your country's flora and the great recipe.
Barbara Bamber | justasmidgen says
What an unusual bean.. and so unbelievably healthy! Your recipe sounds wonderful, if only we had these ingredients here!!
Aparna says
I've never cooked cluster beans with potato. Must try it. Where I come from we cook it a with a little bt soaked moong dal and finally add coconut and green chillies crushed together.
My vegetable vendor here calls it guar or chitki. At home it is "kothavarakkai". Quite a mouthful, huh? 🙂
Btw, these beans are not really bitter if very tender, but I rarely see them that tender out here. 🙁
Helene says
I was told not to cook it with daal. They cook the Gossai (Luffa) with daal but not that veggie here around. Now that you are saying it, I had read the name chitki in a childrens konkani book. yeah thats quite a mouthfull, the southern language is difficult in my opinion. O.O I haven't seen any tender yet either, they are alwyas quite hard and a bit stiff. I ll be keeping an eye out for tender ones, from now on. =D
Helene says
Its on which label Maureen? You are welcome 😉