green beans with pork

This delicious Vietnamese dish has more garlic in it than anything else I cook. You can of course vary the vegetable component.

500 green beans, cut into short lengths
12 – 16 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 – 9 fresh hot chillies (to your own taste), finely chopped
5 tb oil
275 g lean pork, minced
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tb brown sugar or palm sugar
3 tb fish sauce
300 ml water

Put oil in a wok over medium-high heat, add garlic and chillies and stir-fry until golden. Add pork, stir-fry until no longer raw, add remaining ingredients. Cook about 8 mins until beans are tender and water largely absorbed.

Mango, cashew nuts and basil can be added to this.

From: Madhur Jaffrey Far Eastern Cookery

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french beans with tomatoes

a good bunch of green french beans or runners
2 tb olive oil
1 clove garlic, halved
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
chopped parsley

Blanch beans in salted water about 5 mins or until done.

Heat oil in a heavy pan, fry first garlic clove gently until golden and discard. Add beans and second minced clove, cook briefly and add tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are sticky and coating the beans. Season and add parsly to taste.

Elizabeth David at her essential best. The beans ought to be overcooked mush, but the tomatoes seem to amost pickle them and enfuse them with sweet flavour.

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