french beans Archives | CaribbeanPot.com

Yet another version of String Beans as adapted from memories of growing up in the Caribbean. Pali (my nickname for Zyair Rook) and I were busy cleaning the weeds in the garden when we noticed that the beans we planted mid-spring had a bunch of beans ready for harvest. We harvested and cooked!

You’ll Need…

1 lb string beans
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 lb salted cod (prepared)
1 medium tomato (diced)
1 medium onion (sliced)
2 scallions (chopped)
1/2 bell pepper (sliced)
4 sprigs thyme
2 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4-6 cloves garlic (diced)

Note! If doing this recipe gluten free please go through the full list of ingredients to make sure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary requirements. I used Salted Cod, but you can use your fav dry/salted fish. There were no spicy peppers (like Scotch bonnet) used in the recipe as explained in the video below.

Learn how to prepare salted fish for use. << Click To Watch.

Wash the string beans, then remove the ends and discard. Chop or break into 1 to 2 inch pieces and set aside. For the Salted Cod, I placed it in a bowl then added boiling water onto it. When it was cool to touch I squeezed out the water, rinsed with cool water.. squeezed out that water and shredded it into bits. Note that I used boned (boneless) salted Cod, but I still kept an eye out for any bones.

Heat the olive oil in a wide pan on a medium flame, then add the prepared salted Cod, followed by the onion, garlic and black pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 4 minutes. Add the bell pepper (optional), thyme, scallions and should you decide to add any spicy pepper, do so now. Cook a further 3 minutes.

Turn the heat back up to medium and add the prepared String Beans (French beans will work too) and stir well.

Add the water and bring to a boil with the lid on.

Toss in the tomato, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes with the lid on.

It’s now time to personalize things a bit. Check for salt and add if necessary, I didn’t add any as explained in the video, and should there still be liquid at the bottom of the pot, remove the lid (as I did) and cook a further 5 minutes with the lid off.

Personally I like the beans with a slight bit of body. We had it with Sada Roti in case you’re curious. But it’s just as delicious as a topping for steaming rice.

Caribbean Ginger Stewed Chicken With String Beans.

May 27, 2025August 28, 20183 Comments

This is a dish mom would always make on a Monday, when she would have leftover stewed chicken from Sunday’s massive lunch (well if my brother and I didn’t attack the chicken the evening before as we watched Knight Rider). The string beans or in some cases Bodi (yard bean) usually came from our little kitchen garden at the back of the house and I was somehow always involved in picking them. This time we’ll rock this from ‘scratch’.

You’ll Need…

3 lbs chicken (drum with thighs)
1 lb string beans (you’ll be safe with 2 lbs if you want more beans)
1 heaping tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt (adjust)
1/2 medium onion (diced)
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (no seeds)
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
Ginger (I used about a 1 1/2 inch piece)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon veg oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup water
6 grape tomatoes

Important! If doing this recipe gluten free, please go through the entire list of ingredients to make sure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. Additionally, when handling such hot peppers as scotch bonnets, be sure to wear gloves and wash your hands immediately after with soap and water. Also note that the ginger will give this stew a peppery undertone as well.

The chicken was cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces, cleaned and most of the fat and skin removed. In a large bowl place the chicken, with the salt, black pepper, ginger, Caribbean Green seasoning, Ketchup, onion and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well and allow it to marinate while you trim and cut the string beans. Cut off the tips and then trim into 1 – 1 1/2 inch pieces. Cover with cool water to keep fresh.

With the ginger you can certainly grate it is so you won’t get a chunk of ginger when eating.. I luv getting bits of ginger so I julienne it in this recipe. For the following step you may want to watch the video below.

Heat the veg oil on a high heat in a heavy pan. Then add the brown sugar and using a dry spoon, move it a around. It will start to melt, go frothy, then amber in color. Act NOW! Add the seasoned chicken to the pot. Yes you add everything. Mix well to coat the chicken pieces with the caramelized sugar. No the dish will NOT be sweet. If the sugar goes beyond amber (black) stop! Don’t proceed or you’ll have bitter tasting chicken.

Turn the heat down to medium, place a lid on the pot and cook for about 5-8 minutes. It will spring a lot of natural juices. The next step in to infuse the chicken with the ‘stew’ flavor and give it a lovely golden color. Crank up the heat, remove the lid and burn off all the liquid.

After about 4-6 minutes you should see the oil we started with at the bottom of the pot… it’s now time to add the trimmed string beans to the pot and stir well.

Swish the cup of water in the same bowl you marinated the chicken to pick up any remaining marinade, then pour it into the pot with the chicken and beans. Bring this up to a boil, then reduce to a rolling boil. The goal is to fully cook the chicken and beans.

After about 15 minutes, this should be ready. However, you must personalize this a bit. Taste for salt and adjust and there will be a bit of gravy on the bottom of the pot. You may burn that off completely (with lid off) or leave it to pour over your rice. In my case I gave it 3 minutes with the lid off.. this is where I added the tomatoes to the pot as I didn’t want them to over-cook.

The perfect combo for this (besides hot Sada Roti) is hot rice.. steamed, boiled or done in your fav way. For me it’s boiled long grain par-boiled brown.

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Gluten Free Meat & Poultry

French Beans With Leftover Caribbean Stewed Pork.

May 27, 2025March 5, 20151 Comment

Between spinach and beans it would be very difficult for me to decide which I adore more. The edge would probably go to beans simply because as a young fella on the islands I would help my parents grow different varieties in our kitchen garden. I hated pulling out the weeds, but I did enjoy harvesting them.. each bean picked off the bushes were like little prizes to my collection in the basket. Mom would normally make this dish for us whenever she would make stewed pork the evening before for dinner and had leftovers. If you’d like to make this dish vegetarian, simply leave out the stewed pork and for more flavor use coconut milk instead of the water mentioned in the ingredient list.

You’ll Need…

1.5 lbs French beans (any green bean will work)
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Olive oil
Hot pepper (I used wiri wiri)
1 cup water (or coconut milk if making this vegetarian)
left over stewed pork

* If making this dish gluten free, do go through the entire list of ingredients (including the stewed pork) to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs.

Trim the beans, wash and drain. Chop the onion, mince the garlic and get ready to rock one of the tastiest french beans dish you’ve ever had. Heat the oil in a wide pan on a low heat, then add the garlic, onion, thyme and black pepper. Allow it to go for about 3 minutes, so we start with a lovely flavor base.

You will notice that I opted for a Guyanese favorite, wiri wiri peppers for this recipe but you can use any (or none) hot pepper you like. You’ll also notice that I added them whole and never cut or burst them, as we want flavor and not raw heat.

Turn up the heat and add the beans, stir well and go in with the salt and whole peppers. Lastly, add the water and bring to a boil.

When it comes to a boil turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pan and allow to cook for about 10-15 minutes (this depends on how well-done you like your beans). Then add the pieces of stewed pork to the pot, mix well and turn the heat up to burn off any excess liquid which may still be in the pot. Once the liquid is gone, turn off the stove and you’re done. If adjusting the salt in this dish, do so ONLY after tasting it AFTER adding the stewed pork. Since the pork would have already been salted perfectly, you don’t want to salt before adding it to the pot.

I like my beans with a slight crunch to them, so I usually allow them to cook for about 8-10 minutes before I ad the stewed pork. Do remember to remove the peppers before serving and try your best to not break them during cooking.. well, unless you want that lovely kick from the heat. If you don’t have stewed pork, you can go in with stewed chicken or stewed beef with basically the same results as this version.

Gluten Free Vegetarian

Vegetarian Stir Fry Bodi (yard beans) With Cashews.

November 17, 2014August 5, 2014Leave a Comment

As a young fella on the islands, my brother and I usually helped mom with the kitchen garden after school and on the weekends. I enjoyed seeing plants go from seeds to actually bearing fruit and harvest time was usually my favorite. Picking bodi (yard beans) off the bush (grows on a vine-like bush) was like a treasure hunt and it didn’t hurt that I LOVE beans of all shape and form. So the meals which would follow the time spent harvesting, was a glorious time for me. Traditionally mom did this one of two ways, in a curry or stewed with some sort of leftover meat or bits of salted cod. But in this recipe I’ll show you another take on cooking bodi (or any green bean).

You’ll Need…

1 lb Bodi (aka yard beans)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tomato diced
1/2 onion diced
2 cloves garlic (finely diced)
1/4 teaspoon ginger (grated)
1/2 cup cashews (raw)
1 tablespoon veg oil
1/4 cup water
Fresh ground black pepper
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper
1 teaspoon oyster sauce

* Taste for salt near the end and adjust as the soy and oyster sauce may have enough salt to season this dish. I used oyster sauce in this recipe, so please visit your local Chinese grocers for a vegetarian option if you want to make this 100% vegetarian. If you cannot get bodi, feel free to use string beans or french beans, but note that they may cook faster than bodi. Be sure to use a gluten free soy sauce and oyster sauce if cooking this according to a gluten free diet.

Prep the yard beans by trimming off the ends, then cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces. Wash and drain. Dice the onion, garlic and scotch bonnet pepper – remember to wash your hands after handling the scotch bonnet, don’t use any seeds and only use as much as you can handle. The recipe works fine without it as well. (I grated the ginger)

Heat the oil on a medium flame, then toss in the garlic, onion and ginger… lower the heat to low and let this gently cook for about 3 minutes.

Raise the heat to medium and then go in with the trimmed bodi pieces, stir well, then add all the other ingredients (except the tomato) and add the water. Bring to a boil and cook on a medium heat for about 10-12 minutes, then go in with the cashews. Stir well.

Here’s where it’s up to you to personalize the dish a bit… taste for salt and determine how tender you like your beans. If you like it really tender you may need to add a bit more water and cook for an extra 5 minutes or so. As you turn off the heat toss in the diced tomato to brighten up the overall stir-fry. The residual heat from the pan will be enough to cook the tomato enough (so it’s not melted away).

If you didn’t already know, Chinese immigrants (as contract laborers) came to the Caribbean over a century ago (between 1853 and 1879), so you’ll find many of our dishes are heavily influenced by their delicious contributions.

I do hope you give this bodi stirfry with cashews a try as the flavors and texture is simply stunning.

Gluten Free Seafood

Bodi Stewed In Coconut Milk And Salted Cod.

May 28, 2025November 16, 20131 Comment

As a young fella on the islands I fondly remember helping our mom pick (harvest) the mature bodi (bora, long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, pea bean, snake bean, or Chinese long bean) which grew on the bamboo branches our dad would place next to the plants for the vine to spread. Something about the long beans cascading down like lengthened streams of water falling from the heavens attracted my attention. Especially when we had a good crop and the beans were the length of long shoe laces. However you had to be careful when picking the bodi when there were still flowers on the vine, as they attracted bees who did their thing pollinating so we could have a continuous crop.

If you can’t source bodi (bora in Guyana) french beans, string beans or any of your favorite green beans will work for this recipe. The one thing you will have to note though is the cooking time for the beans you select. Bodi is a bit tough so it takes about 5-10 minutes longer to cook than other beans.

You’ll Need…

1 bundle bodi (about 1lb)
3 cloves garlic (diced)
2 tablespoon olive oil (veg oil works great as well)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 medium onion (sliced)
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper (any spicy pepper)
dash black pepper
1 cup shredded salted cod
8 cherry tomatoes

* Prep salted fish – soak – boil – drain and shred – please use boned salted fish for less work. Click here >> How To Prepare Salted Fish <<< to learn how to prepare saltfish for use. IMPORTANT: IF doing this recipe gluten free do go through the ingredient list to make sure it meets with your specific gluten free dietary needs.

Heat the oil on a medium heat, then add the salted fish and cook on low for about 3 minutes to create a lovely base of flavour. Then add the garlic and onion and cook for another 3 minutes on low heat. Stir well.

While this cook wash the bodi, then trim off about 1/4 inch off both ends and discard. Now cut them into 1 – 1.5 inch pieces.

Turn the heat up to medium/high, add the trimmed bodi as well as the other ingredients (except the tomatoes) and bring to a simmer.

Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot and let it cook for about 20 minutes. After-which remove the lid, taste for salt (adjust accordingly to your taste) and turn the heat up to burn off all excess liquid.Should not have any liquid when done.

You will notice that the bodi will not have the brilliant green color you started off with (normal) and you can personalize this by cooking to the consistency you like as I know many people who like their beans with a little crunch to them. Add the tomato (toss), turn the heat off and cover the pot. The residual heat will gently cook the tomato.

If you want to make this fully vegetarian you can leave out the salted fish and start by gently cooking the onion and garlic and proceed from there (for extra flavor you can add a vegetable stock cube). And remember if you can’t source bodi, you can use your favorite green bean with great results. To stretch this dish for more people you can add some cubed potato, but do remember to adjust the amount of salt you add.

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french beans

String Beans With Tomato And Saltfish.

Caribbean Ginger Stewed Chicken With String Beans.

French Beans With Leftover Caribbean Stewed Pork.

Vegetarian Stir Fry Bodi (yard beans) With Cashews.

Bodi Stewed In Coconut Milk And Salted Cod.

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