Vegan day 24: Szechuan string beans
For the New Yorker, sometimes the main ingredient necessary is time. Health does require some commitment and of course, it’s worth it! I often have the idea in my head that it’s going to take me an hour to prepare a meal– that’s not good being that I eat 6 to 8 times a day lol. Today I was in the mood for string beans, but not just any string beans- I want the ones they serve in the Asian or Japanese restaurants! Szechuan string beans I think! Usually this is my meal when I go to those restaurants- vegan, spicy and delicious!
So let’s jump right in! Once again, who has time to sift through recipes lol- actually I did but just a few and I only skimmed over them. I have to take more time out for the wonderful recipes online and in cook books.
I cleaned the string beans and cut off the ends. I added organic extra virgin coconut oil to a frying pan. It was my first time cooking anything with coconut oil– (WOW I loved it)
I simmered some red bell peppers, scallions, garlic, dried chili peppers and cilantro. Then I added the string beans along with some tamari, fig juice and chili paste- I only needed to cook them for about 10 minutes. For a healthy garnish, I added sliced almonds and white sesame seeds.
If you are wondering why the double chill and why the fig juice.. that comes from skimming over recipes and not paying attention lol. I bought two different chills- one dried and one as a paste. Different recipes sited one or the other and of course, yours truly had to use both! Somewhere in the recipes, I read sugar– yikes.. don’t let me make anything except dessert with sugar! I ate enough sugar in my early childhood to sweeten a whole country’s morning coffee. My grandmother would win those big silver dollars playing black jack in vegas and instead of saving them, I would deposit them daily with the “Hood”- that was the name of the ice cream truck– who really sold candy— sugar, sugar, sugar! So I didn’t use sugar! I happened to be soaking some figs so I used some of the water instead!
Enjoy!
Health Benefits of Coconut Oil
