We both love meat and seafood but on weekdays, we mostly route towards a vegetarian meal. Simple, healthy and less indulgent! However, I would confess that green beans are one of those veggies that we should eat more often and we don’t. I typically buy it for Avyan’s toddler meals. But when it comes to cooking with green beans for grown-ups, I am mostly at a loss for ideas. Other than throwing a few in a curry or tossing it in noodles, I really don’t know how to upscale green beans.
I asked for inspiration in Instagram several weeks back. It took me by surprise at how many amazing ways we can enjoy these crunchy green beauties. I noted down a few of those ideas to try in future and then came up with this extremely easy, packed with flavors, crunchy almond crusted green beans.
Few cloves of garlic, handful of almonds or your favorite choice of nuts, some dry chilies for that heat and desiccated coconut, all of them blended coarsely. A quick stir-fry with blanched green beans, some spices for that perfect blend and it’s ready. It’s important to avoid over cooking the green beans so the vibrant color retains along with the crunch.
This dish takes hardly time from prep to finish making a great weeknight dish. It works great as sides or tossed in salad along with some potatoes or salad leaves.
Almond And Coconut Crusted Green Beans
Ingredients
- 250- gram green beans
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 dry red chilies
- ¼ cup almonds
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon aamchur, dry mango powder
- salt
- pepper
- oil
Instructions
- Grind the garlic cloves, dry red chilies, desiccated coconut and almonds along with a teaspoon of oil to a fairly coarse consistency. Keep it aside to be used later.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop the green beans. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the beans are tender but crisp. Drain the green beans and immediately put then in a bowl of ice-cold water. This will prevent the green beans from further cooking and retain the bright green color.
- Heat some oil in a wok and add cumin seeds. Once it sizzles, drop the nut mixture and cook for a while. Drop the green beans, sprinkle some salt, pepper and sauté, tossing every other minute. In about five minutes, it would be ready to serve. Sprinkle aamchur and serve warm.
Notes
Aamchur is easily available in any Indian store. But if you can’t find it, just add some lemon zest at the end for the refreshing tangy flavor.
Comments are closed.
Rosa
May 10, 2016 at 8:17 AMA great combination! Such a great way to flavour beans.
Cheers,
Rosa
thefolia
May 10, 2016 at 2:58 PMWhat a clever way to eat green beans…I bet it will be a hit in our nest. Happy feasting!
Roxana
May 10, 2016 at 3:36 PMWhat a fun and different new flavor combination for green beans!
rebecca
May 10, 2016 at 8:17 PMlovely recipe often cook green beans with coconut
angiesrecipes
May 11, 2016 at 12:59 AMThe crunch topping looks really great on the green beans!
Nomita | Ebabee
May 11, 2016 at 5:56 AMVery interesting idea – unusual flavours. BTW, tried out your instant naans at the weekend and I was so pleased with the result. Had it with homemade barbecued lamb tikkas, tangdi kebab and dal and really enjoyed. Now I really feel we can have naan anytime. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Megan @ Meg is Well
May 11, 2016 at 7:38 AMThe simplicity and flavors have me salivating, which I don’t usually do over green beans. I’d say you successfully upscaled green beans!
Shumaila
May 11, 2016 at 4:48 PMWe too don’t eat green beans as much as we should. Thanks for sharing a new way to include them.
Laura | Tutti Dolci
May 12, 2016 at 1:26 PMGreen beans are one of my favorite sides. I love that crunchy topping!
Anindya S Basu
May 13, 2016 at 5:05 AMPersonally I don’t like beans as the main character but you have put this up in a beautiful way. Great photography as always.
Tes
May 17, 2016 at 9:57 PMWhat a lovely combination! I think my boys will absolutely love it if I cut the beans into small pieces! I will definitely try this 🙂