Over the weekend Elsie and I celebrated with our grandpa. It was his 85 birthday! For family lunches, usually my grandma will call each of a us a week or two ahead and ask us to bring a dish. She asked me if I’d bring green beans. I asked if she wanted my usual green bean casserole, but she said to try something different.
I think she was just looking for a little variety, since we have green bean casserole at lots of family meals for the holidays.
I’m not sure if she was expecting something this different, but I know that many of my family members (including my grandparents) enjoy Thai food, so I figured why not? The result was this delicious, flavorful and super healthy side dish that got absolutely devoured at lunch on Sunday.
Thai Style Green Beans, makes 5-6 servings (as a side dish). Adapted from here.
3-4 lbs fresh green beans
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoon oil (I used canola)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
3 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/3 cup cilantro
First rinse and chop off the ends of the green beans. This is optional, as it’s kind of a preference thing. You can leave the ends on if you like. Just make sure to remove any stems that might still be attached to your fresh green beans.
Blanche the beans in boiling salted water for 4-6 minutes. I like my green beans a little more cooked than the average, so feel free to blanche for only 2-3 minutes if you want to really preserve that green bean crunch.
After blanching I strain my beans and allow them to just sit in the colander for few minutes while I prep other things. This will continue the cooking process. If you want to stop the cooking process then plunge your cooked green beans into a bowl of ice water.
Next peel and mince the garlic and ginger. In a small bowl or cup stir together the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and peanut butter. Set aside. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat.
Cook the ginger and garlic until very fragrant but not browned, 2 minutes. Add the green beans and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Pour the sauce (the soy, peanut butter mix) over the green beans and toss to coat.
Remove from heat and garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro. Serve warm. Enjoy! xo. Emma
Thanks for posting this recipe! I did not follow it exactly because I did not have all the ingredients, so I’m not qualified to comment on the recipe as stated. However, I was inspired to use most of the ingredients and some substitutions, and I ended up with a flavor-packed, umami-laden dish that delighted both my husband and myself. Thank you!
looks very tasty. I need to check this recipe 😉
Tonight will be my second time making these and they are delicious! I’m not a fan of peanut butter so I excluded it, but the sauce comes together without it anyway. This is definitely a keeper, yum!
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
-Hollan
This recipe worked great when I tried it with asparagus too. I skipped the blanching step but kept everything else the same. Yum!
looks delicious !! a nice way to eat a dish I find sometimes boring…
http://hidinginheaven.blogspot.fr/2013/03/the-one-with-neon-sweater.html
YUMMMM! So going to try this!
www.samspinkslippers.blogspot.com
I want to make everything you do! Your food always looks so tasty!
This looks amazing, can’t wait to try it!
www.lawfullylost.com
I love these post you publish!!
Healthy but tasty food inspirations through beautiful pictures! 😉
http://carolinabin.com/
Yum! I have everything to make this except the cilantro, so I think I’ll try it(sans cilantro) tonight. Thanks for the idea! 🙂
Sounds delicious…I may try it tonight!
Dearest Elsie and Emma,
First of all, I love your blog!!
You inspired me to start my own blog and this week I started it.
These green beans make me wat to run to the kitchen and prepare them!!
Love Roos
yum, this looks amazing!!
looks great, well done!
Could you delete this comment? or website link only?
OMG that sounds soooo delicious and I love green beans and thai-food! I have to make that!
Looks yummy can’t wait to try it
These sound amazing!
This looks amazing! What a wonderful looking, and seemingly easy side dish!
Looks delicious, Emma. I love green beans and being a vegan, you just gave me a new recipe to try out. Thanks Doll!
http://www.girlsandhappiness.com
Yes! Trader Joe’s use to sell frozen spicy Thai beans and they were incredible…but I haven’t seen them in stores for a couple years. Yum!
http://mattandcarlycross.blogspot.com