Curried Green Beans with Corn and Tomato

I may not have blogged here for over a year, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking.

I have some Scarlet Runner beans in my garden that have grown really big - you know, tough and stringy. They wouldn't be nice steamed (which is what I usually do) so I had to find some other way to use them up.


















First I used my potato peeler along the length of each side to peel away the stringy parts. Usually you can pull the strings, but my beans weren't cooperating. Then I cut them up into 1/2" pieces.






















They are cooking on the stove now and here is my little recipe, created with what I had on hand. You can modify however you wish.



















Curried Green Beans with Tomato and Corn

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup corn kernels
1 - 28oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups cut green beans
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 Tbsp dried kale - OPTIONAL
1/4 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein) - OPTIONAL

Saute the onion and garlic cloves in a little water until soft. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer on low heat until the green beans are soft or to your liking.

This will be a hearty sauce that you can serve over pasta, rice or mashed potatoes. Add a little water if it becomes too thick.

I always keep dried kale on hand because I love to toss some in soups and stews and fresh kale isn't always available to me. The TVP just adds a bit of texture.

I just had a little taste to see how it's coming along. Not bad at all. :)

Bryanna's Persian Chickpea and Green Bean Stew

This is another simple but wonderful recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan. It's from her cookbook "20 Minutes to Dinner." I got the recipe from a post Bryanna made on the Vegsource New Veggies board. I always serve this with brown rice.

1 onion, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 lb frozen whole small green beans or trimmed fresh green beans (I use 2 and 1/2 cups frozen cut green beans)
28 oz can diced tomatoes and juice
1 can (or 1 and 1/2 cups cooked) chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup chopped celery leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large nonstick pot, steam fry the onion and garlic until it begins to soften. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes or until the green beans are tender.