Papdi Bhaji Recipe

Here’s a recipe, that features one of my favorite vegetables from the winter produce in India – the papdi, surti papdi, val papdi or flat green beans. This Papdi Bhaji is a super duper easy, very lightly spiced, yet delicious and wholesome Goan preparation of sautéed and steamed papdi (flat green beans), which I often make at home during the chilly winter season. With minimal ingredients, this bhaji recipe is also vegan and gluten free, and really gets done within minutes. Try it out, and I’m sure you’ll too get hooked to it, at the very first bite.

About Papdi Bhaji

You can call this Papdi Bhaji recipe, the Goan version of this Punjabi style Beans Recipe, minus the aloo or potatoes. By the looks and the use of a few spice powders in each of these sabjis also, they would differ from each other.

But majorly, the making is same. In fact, you can replace the French beans in the beans recipe with the surti papdi and try making it that way.

For me personally, winters are the best time of year in India, and there are many reasons to love this cold season here. First and the foremost is that it brings great relief from the sweltering heat of the summers.

Next, the fresh seasonal produce that it brings along, is quite unmatched. Markets are full of fresh greens and other vegetables that can be used to make an array of sumptuous dishes.

From leafy greens like spinach, fresh fenugreek, mustard leaves (sarson ka saag), etc. to other veggies like red carrots, turnips (shalgam), cauliflowers, flat green beans (surti papdi or val papdi) and more.

It is very difficult to really pick and choose as to which ones you would buy and which ones you would give a miss!

This Papdi Bhaji is one of the easiest and simplest ways you can use the flat green beans to make a quick, yummy and hearty dish. The spices too are minimal in this, which makes it an ideal side dish with your everyday Indian meals.

More on My Recipe

The variety of flat beans, which I use for this Papdi Bhaji is also known as lima beans in English. These beans are flat and have a shorter length. They are also known as Surti Papdi in Gujarati, Val Papdi in Marathi and Sem ki Phalli in Hindi.

These beans are very nutritious and packed with proteins, iron and other vitamins and minerals. However, you can use any variety of flat beans to make this sabji.

Along with flat green beans (papdi), other ingredients used in this bhaji are shallots or onions, garlic and green chillies.

Some turmeric powder, grated fresh coconut and chopped fresh coriander leaves are also added. You can cook the dish in any neutral flavored oil or even coconut oil.

This Papdi Bhaji is made with a very few ingredients. Hence, a prominent flavor of the flat beans is felt throughout, in the dish. Fresh coconut added to the bhaji, gives a mild sweet taste coupled with the faint sweetness from the beans too.

Two more recipes I make with flat beans is the Tamil style Avarakkai Poriyal and the Gujarati recipe of Undhiyu and also Sem ki Sabji.

Like I said, the Papdi Bhaji goes very well with Dal tadka-rice, Sambar or Rasam rice. Or even with chapatis and roti. In the above picture, it is served with steamed rice and a Mangalorean style pumpkin and black eyed peas sambar.

These beans are a winter specialty in India. I do make this Papdi Bhaji along with other dishes with it often in this season. One more val papdi recipe made Maharashtrian style with peanuts is another favorite at home.

This Papdi Bhaji from the blog archives first published on February 2014 has been updated and republished on February 2023.