Olive-Oil Green Beans in Tomato Sauce 🍅🇱🇧

Description

Tender green beans simmered slowly in olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, and warm spices—a naturally vegan, make-ahead mezze or main. 🫒

Hook
Sweat the beans gently in plenty of olive oil before adding liquid for the softest, most flavorful bites. ✨

Ingredients

• 🥬 Green beans, trimmed and cut in 4–5 cm pieces: 600 g (about 6 cups / 21 oz)
• 🧅 Yellow onion, finely diced: 150 g (1 cup / 5.3 oz)
• 🧄 Garlic, minced: 10 g (3–4 cloves / 0.35 oz)
• 🫒 Extra-virgin olive oil: 60 ml (¼ cup / 4 fl oz)
• 🍅 Crushed tomatoes (canned or fresh): 400 g (1½ cups / 14 oz)
• 🍅 Tomato paste: 25 g (1½ tbsp / 0.9 oz)
• 💧 Water or light vegetable stock: 240 ml (1 cup / 8 fl oz)
• 🧂 Fine salt: 8 g (1⅓ tsp / 0.28 oz), to taste
• ⚫ Black pepper: 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🌶️ Ground cumin: 2 g (1 tsp / 0.07 oz)
• 🌿 Ground coriander: 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🍋 Fresh lemon juice, to finish: 15–30 ml (1–2 tbsp / 0.5–1 fl oz)
• 🌱 Fresh parsley, chopped: 10 g (¼ cup / 0.35 oz)
• Optional for serving
• 🍚 Cooked rice or bulgur
• 🍋 Extra lemon wedges

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Sweat the aromatics
2. Warm olive oil in a wide heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion and ½ tsp of the salt. Cook 6–8 min, stirring often, until soft and lightly golden. Add garlic and cook 30–45 sec until fragrant.
3. 2️⃣ Bloom spices & tomato
4. Stir in cumin, coriander, black pepper, tomato paste, and crushed tomatoes. Cook 2–3 min to thicken slightly and remove the raw tomato taste.
5. 3️⃣ Add beans & liquid
6. Add green beans, remaining salt, and water/stock. Stir well so the beans are coated in sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
7. 4️⃣ Slow simmer
8. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid leaving a small crack, and simmer 30–35 min, stirring every 10 min, until beans are very tender but not falling apart. If the sauce gets too thick before beans are soft, add a splash of hot water.
9. 5️⃣ Reduce the sauce
10. Remove the lid and cook 5–10 min more over low–medium heat until the sauce is thick, glossy, and clings to the beans rather than pooling.
11. 6️⃣ Finish & rest
12. Off the heat, stir in lemon juice and half the parsley. Taste and adjust salt and acidity. Let stand 10–15 min—flavor improves as it cools. Serve warm, room temperature, or chilled with rice, bulgur, or bread, sprinkled with remaining parsley.

Total Time

⏱️ Prep: 15 min
🔥 Cook: 45–50 min
😌 Rest: 10–15 min
🕒 Total: 70–80 min

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