This is how every Greek mother or grandmother cooks green beans, or φασολάκια! The is how you make green beans the Greek way.
You will need:
- 1 kilogram of long green beans (fresh or frozen)
- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 red onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 potatoes
- 2 zucchinis
- The juice of 2 juicy tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- fresh parsley
- fresh fennel
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Wash your vegetables. If you chose the frozen way, congratulations because you are set. If you chose the fresh beans, you should reach for a knife (and for some patience). The beans on both sides have a “nerve” or cord running on them, cut it out with the knife, along with the top and the bottom of the bean. If this is your first time doing it, try to cut close to the surface so you don’t waste too much flesh! Don’t worry, it will get easier and faster with time!!
Chop the onions and garlic finely. Chop the carrots, zucchinis and potatoes in bigger pieces.
I like keeping the green beans as long as they come (like my grandma used to do them), but if you want to you can chop them too!
In a giant pot, drizzle some olive oil to coat the bottom, heat it up over medium heat on the stove. When it starts sizzling add the onions and the garlic. Let them saute for a minute. Add the carrots, sizzle for a couple of minutes. Next add the potatoes, sizzle to make them softer, then the zucchinis and last but not least the green beans! Try to keep the heat medium to low so nothing burns (and to soften them relatively)!
When you think the green beans are soft enough, add the tomato juice with the sugar, finely chopped parsley, finely chopped fennel; then salt and pepper. Stir carefully. Add enough water for the food to be barely covered, cover with the lid and slow cook on medium-low heat until the carrots, potatoes and the green beans are soft.
We did not have any carrots on hand at the moment so our picture reflects that. Traditionally we make this dish with carrots.
Are you cooking all day and night? How do you have so many things to post every day??? I’m so jealous!
Some days it feels like we are cooking day and night! We are constantly looking to expand our diversity in regards to what we eat. It’s not about making good people (like you) jealous; we are just trying to share our ideas!
Haha, thanks for that! I usually end up making multiple things on Saturday and Monday, but posting them over the course of a few days. Other days I usually only have time for one thing.
Well, tonight I’m actually making a variation of your green beans because I had a huge can (no fresh or frozen here) I needed to get rid of. So keep on posting!
Well, to be fair, we have two minds… two people working on it every single day.
Awesome! Let us know how they turned out, or even better yet… post a blog about your variation!
Oops, somehow I missed this. Blog post on the way…
This looks yummy!I love greek culture and food!Would it be alright to sub dried fennel for the fresh?
Hello! That should not be a problem, the general rule for substituting dried herbs for fresh herbs is as follows: 1 tablespoon fresh = 1 teaspoon dried. The beans are delicious this way, enjoy!
Okay,great!I see that you have put up some other recipe today.They all look amazing!I am a 7 year vegan and know I am going to be looking forward to your future posts.Thanks!
Thank you so much!!Yes we are posting one new recipe every day and we like our stuff tasty so they are good!It’s soooooooooo nice to meet other vegans, nice to meet you Julie! We are Jake and Athanasia and we are looking forward to hearing from you soon!!
Well,I finally tried it and I have to admit it was really good.I did however make some alterations.I used 1 teaspoon sugar and used about 3/4 teaspoon dried fennel,I cooked it about 35 minutes and my zucchini kinda fell apart.But I still liked it a lot.Thanks!
We are very happy you liked it! Sorry about the zucchini disaster!
I was more than happy to eat my disaster this time.Next time I’ll try cooking it 20-25minutes and see how they do then.