ModernGear Food: Green Beans With Garlic

There's a restaurant in Vancouver called Yopo Cafe and they have a garlic green beans dish that I crave on a regular basis. When I lived in Vancouver, that wasn't as much of an issue as it is now that I am living in California.

I wanted to make green beans that would approximate the flavour and texture of those little lovelies, and I think I have finally found a recipe that comes close. Not exact, mind you, because I am pretty sure Yopo deep fries the beans or something equally unhealthy, so these are actually steamed to be flavourful AND healthy. Enjoy!

Green Beans with Garlic Oil


This is a good recipe to have prepped mise en place for...and just a perfect reason to make sure you have good little bowls to hold all of your ingredients.

Like The Pioneer Woman's cooking post on the subject, I too have a weakness for nesting bowls. But I only have one small set of three aluminum ones. If I had a budget for such a thing, I'd get some of these:

Zak Designs Assorted Orange Brights, Set of 4 Bowls, $20
Or these:
Libbey 8-pc. Set of Glass Nesting Bowls, $24.99
And even these two sets from
Flex-It silicone mixing bowls - $39.99 for white and $44.99 for red:
And even the good old standby - and my set doesn't go this small so this would be great for me, the stainless steel nesting set, for $29.99.
But I digress HUGELY, so let's get on with this recipe, shall we?

INGREDIENTS
2 lbs. fresh green beans (you could also use frozen, say in the dead of winter when no fresh ones are available, but only in such an emergency as the fresh ones are far superior)
1 sm. onion, thinly sliced into rings, or just chopped up
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. almonds (skin on or off, and use more if you like nuts)

(I usually have a pic of all of the ingredients here, and I took one but it got lost in sending from iPhone to computer, so you'll have to imagine it.)

DIRECTIONS

1. Trim ends off beans and cut into chunks.
Steam green beans until tender-crisp, work on other stuff while steaming.

2. Cook onion in olive oil in skillet for a few minutes, then add garlic and saute until tender. Stir in cumin, coriander and salt, as well as chopped almonds. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil on the beans, then toss in your onion, garlic and almond mixture. Mix well.
Bon Appétit!

Yield: 12 servings.