05 February 2011

green bean, chickpea, and peanut curry with grilled lebanese flatbread



Oh man, a twofer! I meant to post this forever ago, and then I forgot that I'd written it up. Whoops.  


Slightly tweaked from "Green beans with chickpeas in groundnut sauce", from 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles

Ingredients:
6 T. low-sodium veggie broth instead
1 small yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 1-inch section of fresh ginger (~1 T. ginger paste from tube)
2 t. curry powder
1 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. salt
1 T. veggie oil
4 c. whole green beans, ends trimmed, ~3/4 lb.
1/2 c. unsweetened coconut milk (a whole 14 oz. can wouldn't ruin it)
1/4 c. PB
2 c. chopped tomatoes (I was lame, used one 14 oz. can of no salt added diced tomatoes)
1 14 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 t. dried basil or 2 T. fresh basil (2 T. from tube)
blob (~1 T?) of sambal oelek

Directions:
1. In a blender, combine 2 T. broth, onion, garlic, ginger, curry, coriander, salt, and sambal. Cover and blend until smooth. (Magic Bullet = most underrated kitchen appliance ever!)
2. In a 3-qt saucepan, heat the oil over med-hi heat. Add the spice mixture; cook, stirring, until heated. Add the green beans, cook, stirring until coated with spices. Stir in the remaining 4 T. broth, coconut milk, and PB until smooth (I usually add the coconut milk and PB to the used blender container and then run it in order to get all the remaining spicy goodness off of it and into the pan. That way you don't have to babysit the PB so you don't make an icky chunky sauce).
3. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and basil. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes.


*And now, for the flatbread....*





I thoroughly agreed that although rice goes well with this, flatbread is really the thing to serve with your green beany goodness. The basic recipe comes to you from the New York Times (thanks, newspaper!). They call for za'tar, but I don't have any, so I arbitrarily decided to add a shake of paprika and parsley instead. The first time we made it we used the grill, but hey it is winter in Minnesota, so using the grill pan inside is just as good. I think the grill marks are key...