Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. fresh green beans
• 1/2 lb. ripe pears
• 2 tablespoons vegan margarine
• 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Clean and trim the beans and slice thinly.
2. Par boil or steam them until al dente. (about 12 minutes)
3. Peel and cut the pears.
4. Drain and toss them with the vegan margarine and balsamic vinegar.
5. Add the pears to the beans and gently toss or mix.
6. Serve with an additional splash of balsamic vinegar

Notes:

I have a nice little tool called a bean Frencher. It is one of my favorite tools. It makes preparing beans so easy.

We enjoyed the cashew basil cream sauce with pasta as a main meal with lightly steamed green beans. The recipe is perfect and easy to make. Do give it a try, you will be quite pleased I am sure.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound, young green beans
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tomato, de-seeded and sliced
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• pinch cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch cayenne powder(optional)

Directions:

1. Clean the green beans and cut as desired.
2. Steam them lightly until al dente. Place them in cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
4. saute the onions until they are glassy.
5. Add the minced garlic and curry powder.
6. Mix well.
7. Add the tomato and stir to combine.
8. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cinnamon and cayenne as desired.
9. Mix the curry seasoning well through the green beans.
10. Serve as side dish, salad or appetizer.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 cups green beans
• 1 1/3 cups French fried onions
• 1 cup soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 can water chestnuts, sliced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable bouillon powder
• pinch cayenne (optional)

Directions:

1. Clean and cut the green beans in any shape you enjoy (on a diagonal, French cut, or snap whatever).
2. Slice the water chestnuts
3. Steam the beans slightly for 2-23 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 (F).
5. Place the beans in an oiled casserole dish.
6. Mix in the fried onions. (Save a few to sprinkle on top just before serving.
7. Mix in the water chestnuts.
8. In a bowl, mix the soy yogurt, the powdered vegetable bouillon and the soy sauce.
9. Pour over the beans and onions and mix well.
10. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly.
11. Take the casserole out of the oven, sprinkle a few fried onions over the top as garnish.
12. It’s been my experience that the fried onions a a topping tend to overcook in the oven. The ones mixed in the dish are fine, but the ones on top tend to get almost burnt so it’s better to sprinkle them on top after you take the casserole out of the oven.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 500 grams fresh green beans
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, sliced thinly
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. If the green beans are young, you can leave them whole, and just trim of the stem edge.
2. I prefer to steam then, only until they are al dente.
3. Meanwhile, slice the garlic very thinly.
4. In a small sauce pan, heat the oil.
5. When the oil is hot, drop the garlic in and stir until the garlic becomes golden. Be careful to watch the garlic, as it only takes a couple of minutes, and you don’t want to brown it.
6. Zest the lemon and after zesting, juice it.
7. Mix the lemon juice with the olive oil.
8. Add salt and pepper and lemon zest (reserving a bit as garnish) pour over the green beans and mix well.
9. Serve warm.

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:

• 20 green beans, such as runner beans or other, sliced in 1 inch lengths
• 5 green chillies (jalepeno), chopped finely
• 1 onion, finely minced
• 2 inches grated root ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• pinch salt
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Saute the onion in the oil until translucent.
2. Add the garam masala and cumin powder and sliced garlic ,grated ginger and chillies.
3. Cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add the beans and saute on a medium heat for 5 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and leave to simmer for 2 more minutes then serve with a little pepper sprinkled over.

Notes:

Be careful to only saute the beens until al ente so they keep their fresh green color and crunchiness.

adapted from curry frenzy
http://www.curryfrenzy.com/curry/recipes/Runner-Bean-Bhajii.html

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup fava beans
• 50 g sugar snap bean pods
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and washed
• For the salsa verde dressing:
• 1 medium green chili (deseeded)
• 1 handful fresh coriander leaves
• 4 tablespoons olive oil or lemon flavored sunflower oil
• juice of 1/2 lime
• pinch of salt
• pinch of sugar

Directions:

1. Take the fava beans out of their pods and cook them in salt water for 3 minutes.
2. Plunge them immediately in some cold water.
3. Slip them out of their thick white shells and place in a salad bowl.
4. Meanwhile, blanche the sugar snap pods in salt water for 1 to 2 minutes, drain and refresh.
5. Add them to the salad bowl, along with the rinsed kidney beans.
6. To prepare the dressing, put all the ingredients in a food processor to produce a smooth paste.
7. Serve the salad on a plate with the dressing drizzled over.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
• 1-1/2 tbs. tamarind pulp
• salt
• 200 grams green beans, cut in bite sized chunks
• 2/3 cup water
• 2-3 tbs. oil
• 2 cups onions , thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbs. ginger, fresh, grated
• 1 tbs. coriander, ground
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste
• 1/2 tsp. back pepper freshly ground
• 1 pinch cinnamon, ground
• 1/2 cup raisins, golden
• 1-1/2 tsp. brown sugar, packed or to taste
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbs. garam masala
• cilantro or fresh coriander, fresh, leaves, for garnish

Directions:

1. Slice the eggplant in long slices, and place in a colander, sprinkle with coarse salt, and leave for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and dry well with paper towels.
2. Soak tamarind pulp in 1/3 cup boiling water, off the heat, for 15 minutes. Stir and mash with fork to help it dissolve. Strain through a fine strainer into a bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a wooden spoon to extract all the liquid.
3. Cut the eggplant into bite sized pieces.
4. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.
5. Cook the eggplant until golden brown,
6. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until golden.
7. Reduce heat to low.
8. Add garlic, ginger, coriander, curry powder, cayenne, black pepper and cinnamon and stir for 1 minute.
9. Add the water, tamarind liquid, raisins and sugar and salt to taste and simmer over low heat until the mixture reduces and thickens, 5-7 minutes.
10. Add the garam masala and cook for another minute.
11. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
12. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.
13. Nice served with rice, couscous or other grains.

Note:

This recipe was adapted from one at Ashley’s Aubergines, do check out the website, she has over 3,000 eggplant recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4 sprigs parsley
• 4 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• 500 grams green beans, cook until al dente and blanched

Directions:
Clean and cut fresh green beans blanche and drain.
Prepare a dressing from the rest of the ingredients and pour over the beans while they are still warm.
Serve immediately on a bed of lettuce.