Pink Beans with a Cardamom-Yogurt Sauce

This is the first recipe I've tried from 660 Curries - which is one of the most massive cookbooks I own with over 800 pages! I was really intrigued by a yogurt sauce where the yogurt is cooked down into curds, so decided to try out these beans with cardamom-yogurt sauce. And it was yummy! A bit spicy with lots of flavour (love intensely flavoured food). I used nonfat yogurt which I think resulted in the curds not being as big? But it was good, though I'd like to try it with whole milk yogurt. And my boyfriend liked it which means it must be good since he doesn't like beans. I hope to find many other great recipes like this one as I work my way (slowly) through it.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Curried Mushrooms and Peas
Spicy Indian Chickpeas/Chana Masala
Curried Sweet Potato Soup
Roasted Taco Chickpeas

Pink Beans with a Cardamom-Yogurt Sauce
Adapted from 660 Curries

I think you can use whatever kind of beans you want - the original recipe called for kidney beans. It also calls for a specific type of garam masala but I just used one that I bought. The final flavour of your dish is going to be quite affected by the garam masala so use one you like!

1/2 tbsp oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
6 green or white cardamom pods
1 cup plain yogurt (Ashley note: I used nonfat and it was fine but I bet whole milk yogurt would be better.)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 cups cooked pink beans
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cardamom pods, and stir-fry until the onion turns light brown around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Stir in the yogurt and continue to cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the watery liquid evaporates from the yogurt and leaves behind reddish-brown curd like pellets, 12 to 15 minutes.

3. Sprinkle in the turmeric and incorporate it into the tart sauce. Add 2 cups water and the beans, salt, garam masala, and cayenne. Bring the curry to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium and gently boil the sauce, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Sprinkle the cilantro over the curry, and serve. (Remove the cardamom pods first, if you wish.)