Green Bean Salad

I admit things have slowed down here. Life sometimes comes in the way of best laid plans. Right now, I’m enjoying a sublime stay in my parents home and soaking in the simple pleasures of life that I miss in the meteoric city of Mumbai. Sitting on the swing in the balcony whilst savouring the sweetness of mangoes in season, soaking in the late afternoon sun, surrounded by beautiful plants and mighty trees on the roadside, the joy of meeting old acquaintances and friends I grew up with are just some of the few things that I miss in Mumbai. Not to mention the amazing food cooked by my mother, always made to my liking and taste. I still continue to be on a postnatal diet which forbids me from eating a lot of my favourite foods, but my mother always seems to make up for this loss I guess.

I have been meaning to post more frequently and fortunately I still have a few pictures of the food I cooked before the grand arrival of my almost two month old son. This is one of those simple and quick salads that you can rustle up in a few minutes, provided you have the ingredients. The toasted sesame oil is one such ingredient and I have discovered that it gives great taste and flavour to Chinese dishes. It also lends a beautiful nutty taste and aroma to this salad. During the last few months, whenever I cooked Chinese I always made this salad. But I guess it would go well independently with bread or would easily fit into any contemporary menu.

Green Bean Salad Recipe

The toasted sesame oil lends the nutty taste and aroma , so try not to substitute this with any other oil

Ingredients:

250 gm fresh French Beans stringed and ends trimmed
1 big red bell pepper or 2 small red and yellow bell peppers, cut lengthwise

Salad dressing:
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp finely grated ginger or ginger paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Method:

Boil or steam the vegetables until tender, but make sure they are crunchy.  Mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and stir into the vegetables when they are hot so that they absorb the flavours of the dressing ingredients.