Vegan Green Beans and Potatoes, is a very easy and low cost dish. Fresh green beans are perfect but if not available you can prepare this dish also with frozen beans, when you enrich them with fresh tomatoes and chopped raw potatoes, you will not notice the difference.
Often I think the most difficult thing about cooking daily is deciding on what to cook. Once you decide, it is not a big deal to move on. This dish is one of the reasons I came to this conclusion.
Do you cut green beans before cooking?
Fresh: Yes, you need to snap off both ends and they are long also cut into half. You can do this in batches, doesn’t have to be one by one. Make sure your cuts create similar bite sized beans. Some fresh beans also require the sides to be trimmed too, to get rid of the stringy parts.
Some beans come already prepared, but still it is good to check for ends that have been missed.
Frozen: If you are using frozen beans toss all in a bowl and look for stems to cut off and long beans to break into half. You might be surprised seeing some very large stems.
How to make one-pot vegan green beans and potatoes?
Start with adding and slightly heating a light olive oil in a pot or a pressure cooker. Once ready add a chopped onion and sauté until almost caramelized. Then add a few chopped garlic cloves and the chopped tomato. If tomatoes are not good enough, substitute with tomato paste, but the color of beans might dark a little. Grate and cut potatoes to small chunks and add to the pot together with the beans. For the spices all you need is salt and a pinch of black pepper. However I also like to add a pinch of cumin, dry mint flakes and red pepper flakes too. Mix all. Add warm water just to cover the bottom of the pot. Cover the lid and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Check once in a while, if the water is gone and the potatoes are still not done add some more warm water. You can skip this if using a pressure cooker.
What to serve with green beans and potatoes?
I often go with a bulgur or rice pilaf and also serve a cucumber yogurt salad – cacık with green beans and potatoes. Hope you’ll enjoy this easy and tasty dish. Do comment and let me know!
Green Beans and Potatoes
Ingredients
- 400 grams green beans fresh or frozen
- 1 potato
- 2 tomatoes or 1 tablespoon red pepper paste
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or similar
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon dry mint flakes
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
Instructions
Preparation
- Prepare the beans as described abote. Cut off the stems and cut horizontally if long. Cut of vertically the sides too if there are any stiff strings.
- Peel the potatoes and cut to small chunks.
- Chop the tomatoes. Peel if the peel is thick.
- Chop the onions and the garlic cloves.
Cooking
- Heat the pot slightly and add the olive oil or oil of your choice.
- Toss in the chopped onions and saute until almost caramelized.
- Then add the garlic cloves and the tomatoes (or tomato paste). Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and the beans. Also add the spices, mix.
- Add warm water to cover the bottom of the pot.
- Cover lid and let simmer until potatoes are cooked. Check by poking in a knife in a piece of potato if it slides in easily it is a sign that the dish is ready.
- If the potatoes are not ready and the water is finished add some more warm water.
- Enjoy!