Mum's Green Beans & Potatoes

Mum's Green Beans

Over the Christmas holidays we lunched at Burger King once and returned home with french fries by the bucket full. Since it goes against all my principles to throw them away, I decided to use them in Mum's Green Beans. 

Mum's Original Recipe

I've made these green beans often because I love the flavour of black pepper in combination with an overabundance of sliced onions and tomatoes. The french fries were fully cooked, nice and crispy, so they were added towards the end of the cooking process. They are also liberally salted, so no salt was added to the green beans. The crispiness of the green beans and the eventual soft texture of the fries were an interesting combination that tasted really good.

Ready to Eat!

Mum's Green Beans serve as a side dish to a Bengali meal that usually consists of a meat/fish/seafood main dish, a vegetable side and lentils. Extras include a tomato chutney, something fried such as Begun Bhaja, a salad or raita and hot, steamed basmati rice served with a dollop of ghee, or chapatis (tortillas). A variety of desserts round out the meal, my favourite being Bhapa Doi or Steamed Yogurt.

Ingredients:

1 lb. green beans, cut in 1" lengths and blanched

Left-over french fries, cut in half

2 green chilies, minced

2 large onions, sliced thinly

1 large tomato, diced

1 Tbsp. ground black pepper

salt to taste

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/4 tsp. nigella/kalonji seeds

Directions:

1. Bring a pan of water and salt to the boil, add green beans, bring back to a boil, drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat and sputter nigella seeds.
3. Add green chilies and onions, fry until onions turn translucent.
4. Add tomatoes and fry until tomatoes break down.
5. Add fries and green beans along with black pepper, adjust salt to taste, stir and cover.
6. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Serve as a side dish or on its own with rice or chapatis.