I have a definite weakness for String Beans, French Beans, Bodi (Yard Beans), Pole Beans, Seim.. just about any type of bean, once they’re cooked to my liking. Mom always said that even from my childhood days on the islands she was surprised how much I loved beans, spinach (bhagi) and tomato (in no particular order). Yea, I ate my vegetables (except okra and bitter melon)! This is one of those recipes she would make for us whenever we had Bodi or String Beans in our kitchen garden and there was leftover chicken (curry or stew) from the day before.
You’ll Need…
– leftover curry chicken
– 2 lbs string beans (trimmed)
– 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
– 3 cloves garlic (diced)
– 1 small onion (diced)
– 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
– 1/3 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 cup water
– 5 cherry tomatoes (any tomato works)
Important! If doing this recipe gluten free please go through the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. Especially the curry powder, as some may contain flour as a filler.
Prepare your ingredients. Dice the onion and garlic, then trim of the ends off the beans (remove any strings), cut into 1 inch pieces, then wash and drain. This recipe works great with French beans also.
Heat a saucepan (with a lid) on a medium flame, then add the vegetable oil (coconut or olive oil works just as well), then add the onion + garlic and reduce the heat to as low as it will go. Cook for a couple minutes.
Add the prepared beans to the pot, followed by the black pepper and salt. Turn the heat to med/high and stir well.
Add the water and bring to a boil (lid on). As it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes with the lid on. In my case it took about 14 minutes to get to the texture I like my beans.
Remove the lid and add the leftover curry chicken to the pot and give it a good mix to allow the curry flavors to flavor the beans. Cook for 5-7 minutes with the lid off. Then taste for salt (adjust to your liking) and finally you can go in with the tomatoes. I used grape tomatoes, but you can use a medium tomato diced. Note. The tomato is optional. Stir well, place the lid on and turn off the stove. Allow the residual heat to soften the tomatoes.
You’ll notice that I didn’t add any “Caribbean Sunshine” (spicy pepper) to the dish as the curry chicken I added was already a bit spicy, but you can certainly add some at the start if you wanted. For additional flavor you’re free to use coconut milk instead of the water I used to cook the beans. I wanted a mild curry taste, but you can also add some curry powder at the start when you added the garlic and onion, should you want a more pronounced curry taste.
Do you own a copy of my cookbook ?- The Vibrant Caribbean Pot 100 Traditional And Fusion recipes Vol 2
