Recipe: Easy Asian-style Nuts and Beans

One of the most underrated health foods that is quick to cook, inexpensive and delicious? Green beans. Growing up in Asia, green beans were a staple that could be stir fried, steamed, sautéed or added to curries for a dash of bright, fresh flavour. Green beans provide a boost of protein, calcium, magnesium, as well as Vitamins A and C. One cup of cooked green beans has 4 grams of fibre - the stuff that helps food move through and out of the gut, reducing cholesterol, high blood pressure and inflammation. We need more of it.

“Green beans are bland and boring!” is a common reason why kids (and many adults) don’t eat them. But there are plenty of ways to add flavour with these gut gardeners without the usual suspects of bottled sauces, oil and cream. This recipe takes less than 10 minutes to cook, and uses a dash of fermented food with a hint of salt and iron to boost flavour, and some roasted nuts for crunch and added protein!

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Ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 cup almonds / peanuts

• 1 tblsp coconut or sesame oil

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1/4 tsp mineral salt

• 1/4 tsp turmeric

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1/4 tsp asafoetida

• 2 cups green beans

• 1 tblsp oyster sauce

Method

1. Dry roast the nuts in a flat pan until fragrant (2-3 minutes), then remove from pan.

2. Heat oil in the same pan.

3. Saute the garlic until fragrant.

4. Add the mineral salt, turmeric, black pepper and asafoetida.

5. Add the green beans and stir.

6. Add oyster sauce and 1/4 cup of water to the pan, then cover and steam until beans are bright green (3-5 minutes).

7. Switch off the heat and mix the roasted nuts into the beans.

8. Serve with hot rice, stir fried noodles or as a side. The beans will keep in the fridge for 2 days.

Worried about the salt in oyster sauce?

Good quality oyster sauce is made from boiling oysters and adding soya sauce, caramel for colour and corn starch to thicken the liquid. Oysters are a good source of iron, calcium, zinc and B12, and oyster sauce in moderation adds umami flavour and a dash of fermented food to help digestion. In this recipe, we add water to the sauce to reduce the pitta-inducing effects of the oyster sauce.

You’ve bean on my mind all day!