This Bengali recipe of shim bhapa is an easy vegan mixed vegetable curry made using flat beans, tomatoes, and a touch of pungency from mustard seeds. This is one of those hundreds of easy vegan lunch recipes that are often made for everyday cooking. If you’re looking for easy vegan lunch recipes, this “dump and press” pressure cooker method is a lifesaver.

This Shim Bhapa (steamed) version is unique. It’s a healthy, gluten-free, and dairy-free dish that highlights the natural sweetness of the beans. Unlike drier sautés, this recipe stays slightly juicy, making it the perfect veggie curry to pair with steamed Basmati rice.

Shim or Indian Flat Beans are quite popular and one of the most relished beans in Bengali cuisine. You will find several Bengali recipes which include shim vegetable. In this post, we are making an easy Bengali chorchori with shim, tomatoes, some freshly chopped coriander leaves and some freshly ground mustard seed paste.

This shim chorchori can also be called a veggie curry recipe as it isn’t dry like the rest of the chorchori recipes, but juicy, as you can see in the image above. That is why it is the perfect veggie lunch recipe to be served along with rice.

Table of Contents

Ingredients for Shim Bhapa recipe

Shim or Flat Beans
Tomatoes
Green Chilli
Fresh Coriander Leaves
Mustard Oil
Mustard Seeds
Celery Seeds
Salt & Turmeric Powder

Shim Bhapa recipe instructions

Chop the vegetables and prep the spices, such as celery seeds (radhuni) and mustard seeds.
Drop all the ingredients in a pressure cooker and allow it to whistle a couple of times.
As the pressure cooker releases its steam, open the lid and check if the beans have cooked.
Serve with chopped fresh coriander leaves and a drizzle of mustard oil.

Special Instructions

De-stringing: Cut off the tips of the beans and pull downward to remove the fibrous “thread” along the sides. As beans ripen, these threads become tough and unpleasant to eat, so it’s best to discard them.
The Perfect Cut: Divide the beans into 2 or 3 large pieces. Keeping them in “big squares” prevents them from turning into mush during the pressure-cooking process.
The One-Pot Method: This is one of the easiest Bengali chorchori recipes because it’s a “set it and forget it” dish. Just add your ingredients to the pressure cooker and let the steam do the work.

Serving suggestions

Traditionally, Bhapa Shim is served as a part of a multi-course Bengali meal. Since it is Niramish (no onion, no garlic), it is a popular choice for vegetarian days or festivals.

For the best experience, serve it piping hot over a bed of steamed white rice. The mustard gravy seeps into the rice, creating a comforting, pungent, and wholesome bite that defines Bengali home soul food.

More bhapa niramish ranna recipes

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Shim Bhapa Recipe | শিম ভাপা

Priyanka

This Bengali recipe of Bhapa Sheem Chorchori is an easy vegan mixed vegetable curry made using flat beans, tomatoes, and a touch of pungency from mustard seeds. This is one of those hundreds of easy vegan lunch recipes that are often made for everyday cooking. Shim Chorchori is perhaps the easiest of all as all you have to do is dump everything in a pressure cooker and wait till it whistles. That's it.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Total Time 15

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Bengali

Servings 2 people

Equipment

Pressure Cooker
Stove Top
MagicBullet Blender

Ingredients

250 gms Shim or Flat Beans
2 Tomatoes Small, Chopped
1 Green Chilli Sliced
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves Finely Chopped
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Radhuni or Wild Celery Seeds or Ajmod
1 tbsp Mustard Oil

Instructions

Prep the flatbeans or shim by cutting off the tips and pulling off the string from the sides. Now cut them into pieces of an inch of thickness.
Grind the mustard seeds and the wild celery seeds into a coarse paste using a couple of tablespoons of water.
Put all the ingredients including the freshly ground paste (except the coriander leaves) in the pressure cooker along with ¼ cup of water. Mix everything together.
Close the lid of the pressure cooker and allow it to whistle 2-3 times on high heat before turning the heat off. Let the cooker cool down on its own.
Open the lid and check if the flatbeans have been cooked. She should be soft but not an absolute mush. Adjust the consistency of the gravy by boiling it further.
Once done, sprinkle the finely chopped coriander leaves on top. You may also drizzle some mustard oil if you do not mind the pungency.
Serve with rice.