Fresh Green Beans (Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasulye)

 

Green beans can be categorized as one of the most common olive oil dishes in Turkey. What people do mostly is serve it as a side dish. However, for me it has always been a main course, maybe because my mom always makes it enough to feed an army of people. Some months ago, my sister and I made this for the first time using a pressure cooker (for the first time as well) so you can guess why my instructions are overly detailed about using a pressure cooker. They say food cooked in its own steam is much more delicious and nutritious, but I will add instructions for cooking in a pan, too as soon as I find time to question my mom about it.  

Ingredients 

2 pounds of fresh green beans

1 medium sized onion, finely chopped

½ cup of olive oil

1 ½ cups of water

2 big tomatoes, finely chopped or grated

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp red pepper flakes

salt

Instructions (for pressure cooking)

- Wash the green beans, then trim both ends and shave the sides with a knife.

- Place the olive oil, onion, garlic, sugar and ½ tbsp salt in a pressure cooker and cook them in high heat. Once the onions turn light brown, add the chopped tomatoes and red pepper flakes.

- At this point, add the beans, sprinkling 1 tsp salt over them, and stir for 3-4 minutes until they slightly change color. Then add water.

- Lock the lid of the pressure cooker. When the pressure is released press down on the valve immediately. (otherwise the food on the base will get stuck to the bottom and burn)

- Turn down the heat to low and cook for 20-25 minutes.

- Let it cool in the fridge and serve cold.