Monday, January 17, 2011

Garlic Sesame Green Beans

This recipe is a true, "all me" creation that came about out of necessity for variety. You see, I follow an eating plan that is low carb...except on weekends sometimes & when I get lazy, but most of the time I try to follow it. Eating low carb requires you to be creative with your food, because you can be limited as to what you can eat. I love green beans, but plain ole green beans can get boring. The creative juices started flowing as they often do & I came up with this. It's simple, see for yourself.

And the ingredients are...

Frozen whole green beans, sesame oil (one of my many favorites), soy sauce & minced garlic. Yep, that's it & it's gets easier...

On a side note: Sesame oil is fantastic & it smells great when you cook with it. Just be sure not to do what I do, get carried away with how great it smells & taste & end up making your green beans to oily.

The frozen green beans are steamers & can be thrown in the microwave following the directions, but only for about half the time it calls for. In this case I steamed them for about 4 minutes.


Whiles the beans are steaming, heat your pan. You'll use a skillet or frying pan or whatever you prefer to call it, cooking over medium heat. Add about 1 Tablespoon of the sesame oil, heat for about a minute. This is my first action shot by the way, I know, it didn't turn out great, got some work to do in that area. I promise it will be better next time.


Then add about a teaspoon of the minced garlic & cook for no more than 2 minutes or so.

The oil will be fairly hot & cooking the garlic too long will cause it to burn & take away the flavor.


Toss in the beans & stir. Personally I like to use tongs for, it just makes it easier. Keep tossing the beans around for a minute or two, then add the soy sauce. Keep tossing the beans around until most of the soy sauce seems to be absorbed. At this point you can add a little more sesame oil & garlic if you like it garlicy. I add a little more sesame oil, again because I love it so.

Also feel free to add a little regular salt if you're not a big fan of soy & some black pepper. Whatever your taste buds are calling for.


You'll want the beans to still have a little bit of a crunch to them, not be mushy & not lose their vibrant color. This will not require alot of time so after about 8 minutes or so you are done.

You end up with tasty green beans that will compliment anything.

Bon appetite!

Garlic Sesame Green Beans

1 pkg steamer pack frozen whole green beans
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp soy sauce

Prepare green beans according to package directions but only cooking about half of the specified time. Warm a pan over medium heat, add the oil & heat for about 1 minute. Add the garlic & heat 1-2 minutes. Toss in the green beans cooking for about 2-3 minutes. Add the soy sauce, tossing well & cooking for another 3-4 minutes or until green beans have reached desired tenderness & soy sauce has been absorbed. These beans are great when they still have some vibrant color & a little crunch.

1 comment:

  1. Love this! You have opened my eyes with sesame oil!!
    I can't even cook and I made this taste good. I've been using sesame oil on everything.

    ReplyDelete