Asian Green Beans with Peppers and Peanuts

Enhance green beans with this sour, sweet and salty Thai sauce, garnished with peanuts and crispy onions for a crunchy topping. Serve with rice or noodles and for a protein boost add marinated tofu or tempeh.

Asian Green Beans with Peppers and Peanuts

Dietary: Vegan | Serves 4 | Prep: 30 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 40g raw peanuts, skinned or un-skinned
• 200g French beans
• 200g runner beans, cut into long thin diagonal strips
• 100g broad beans fresh or frozen
• 100g peas fresh or frozen
• 1 medium Romano red pepper, sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced diagonally into long thin shreds- reserve a little for the final garnish
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
• 1 small red chilli, sliced thinly
• Optional: 2-3 tbsp dried crispy onions or shallots (available from Asian stores)
• 1 tsp black or white sesame seeds
• Small handful of coriander leaves

Sauce

• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 lemongrass stalk, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/180CFan.
2. Place the peanuts on a baking tray and roast for 5-6 minutes or until the nuts are golden brown. Allow the peanuts to cool, if un-skinned rub off the skins, then crush lightly in a pestle and mortar or wrap in a tea towel and crush lightly with a rolling pin. They need to be broken into small bits, but not to a powder.
3. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and blanch the French beans for 2-3 minutes until tender, then the runner beans for 4-5 minutes, as they tend to take slightly longer to cook. Have a large bowl of cold water ready beside your hob to plunge the cooked beans straight into, which cools them down quickly, preventing the beans from overcooking and helps retain the bright green colour.
4. Blanch the fresh or frozen peas and broad beans, and also cool these in a bowl of cold water. Once cool enough to handle, double pod the broad beans.
5. Drain all the green beans and peas in a colander once cool.
6. To make the sauce, place all the ingredients in a mini blender and blend till smooth. Strain the sauce through a sieve to remove the coarse bits of lemongrass.
7. Heat 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a wok or large frying pan over a medium to hot heat.
8. Fry the red pepper for a few minutes till just beginning to colour on the edges but still crisp.
9. Add the spring onions, garlic and red chilli, and stir-fry for 1 minute.
10. Add in all the green beans, broad beans and peas. Stir fry to combine for a minute and then pour in the sauce.
11. Turn the vegetables over in the sauce to coat them and add the dried crispy onions and half the crushed peanuts and sesame seeds. Taste and add a little more soya sauce if needed.
12. Serve straight away on a large plate or dish, with the remaining peanuts, sesame seeds and a little extra dried crispy onion and coriander leaves scattered over.

Delicious food photography by Rob Wicks of Eat Pictures.

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