This dish started out as a recipe for spicy longbeans, but as longbeans are in short supply here in the desert I thought I would try it out using French beans instead. I was so happy with the result that I thought I'd go ahead and post the recipe. I have, by the way, tried replacing American green beans for longbeans in the past with rather disastrous results -- the American green beans refused to soften leaving me with an all-too-crispy stir fry. French beans, on the hand, cooked down to just the right texture -- perhaps just 1/2 notch below al dente. And the taste? So wonderful. I ended up eating these with rice alone and making a nice meal of it.
1. First, I prepared by ingredients in advance. (Stir-frying is a quick process so there's no time to rest and prepare ingredients.)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1 dried chili broken into pieces, and curry leaves (optional)
1 tsp ginger (minced) and 1 tsp garlic (minced)
longbeans or French beans, 3 chopped, dried chillies
1/2 cup coconut milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 stock cube
2. Next I heated peanut oil and fried the 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1 dried chili broken into pieces, and curry leaves (optional).
3. Once the oil was fragrant, I then briefly added the 1 tsp ginger (minced) and 1 tsp garlic (minced).
4. Once the ginger and garlic had infused the oil, I added the French beans and 3 chopped, dried chillies. These were stir fried for about 5 mins.
5. Finally, I added 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp chili powder, and 1/2 stock cube. (This can be any kind of stock -- fish, vegetable, etc.) The beans were stir fried in the seasoned coconut milk for another 5 mins, until nearly all the seasoning had evaporated.
The original recipe called for garnishing the beans with cilantro, which I was hesitant to do because it sounded strange, but I must admit the zesty freshness of the cilantro did add something to the salty, pungent tastes. This tasted great and was a big success. In my mouth, at least. ;-)
Comments
Those little ends of the beans would so be gone with me :D
Posted by: Jeff | July 16, 2006 03:29 PM
Looks sooooo delicious!Great photos,too(I like the little step-by-step recipe pics).
I've got loads of green beans to come and will definitely try this recipe.Thanks!
Posted by: KT | July 17, 2006 02:21 AM
hi Evil Prince-- I have a few pics at Flickr and was searching for a photo of Indian samosas when i found YOU ! haven't had a chance to look all of your food ,yet, and I thought for sure you must be a chef or 5star restaurant critic or I don't know what!!
you have the best pic of your samosas and that coconut curry chicken!! I will be making more comments and adding your flick pics to my faves as time and energy allow- I'm in Mpls. and the heat index is 101degrees..hating it- do have AC thank God...
the evil in your name (to me) must be because you are making me HUNGRY !! bye for now, and love this web page, too
Posted by: gogo54 | July 17, 2006 12:55 PM
maybe i will try and make these at work for the hotbar this week! i haven't spoken to you in FOREVER NOW! i came across your comment from about a decade ago the other day when posting some art on my blog that i never get around to. EMAIL me and lets talk.
Posted by: Allen | July 18, 2006 03:08 PM
Unrelated to your delicious green beans, but interesting nonetheless:
I started some of those pepper seeds you sent me, the shishito peppers, is it? And they are now about 6"-8" tall, sharing a pot with my other pepper plants.
You had mentioned that it would take them a while to get established and maybe more than one season to produce fruit...
I wanted to tell you that I have BLOSSOMS. About six or eight beautiful little blossoms.
So! I may have peppers this season!! I am SO EXCITED!!!
Thanks again!
Posted by: Rose | July 19, 2006 09:02 AM
hey! hey! hey! looking good! like jeff said those end bits have got to be gone.
Posted by: Kong-Kay | July 20, 2006 05:47 AM
I don't know. I only snap off the vine end myself.
Saw something tasty on the food channel. They pan fried some tofu after dredging it in seasame seeds and spices. I was thinking it might taste good with zatar as the spice. What do you think? The slices need to be thinner than they had them. It browned fairly quickly and I bet it hadn't heated through.
Posted by: sithi | July 21, 2006 05:45 PM
Jeff & Kong-Kay: I'll definitely remove them next time... oopsies! They were just so tender I didn't bother, but aesthetically you are right -- they're outta here.
KT: it's so yummy together with the coconut and other seasonings... very savory and more like a meal.
Gogo: try and stay cool! I know I am. It's been close to 115 daily here in the desert.
Allen: great to hear from you! I'll email soon as I get a free moment for sure.
Rose: congrats!! Don't get too disappointed if they don't produce the first time around, but if you've got other peppers then maybe there's a good chance you'll get some. Mine are struggling. I think compared to Japan, the desert heat is pretty extreme for them.
Sithi: I loveeeee fried tofu! Middle eastern skewered tofu with zatar sounds really interesting. Maybe a firmer bean product would better for this, like seitan? Good luck and let me know... I'd like to try it myself. I'm always looking for ways to use zatar, and god knows I have enough of it!
Posted by: Evil Jonny | July 22, 2006 08:21 AM
You could start the first Kim-Chi Anonymous group. "My name is Jonny, and I'm a Kim-Chi-aholic."
Posted by: homer | August 2, 2006 08:39 AM
Just found this. I love the blog, but please get rid of that obnoxious gong sound. It's just too jarring and repetative since there is no other way to select a cuisine without going back to the main page.
Posted by: Tony Baloney | August 2, 2006 09:47 PM