Green Beans Salad

A long gap again since my last post. For the past few days, I have been busy with my first event on blogspace, Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy. Praises be to the God, it is going well and I'm thrilled and excited about it. Apart from that, work has been very busy, paired with travel and I hardly get any "me" time. Just wish to take a long long leave and relax. Well, it is time again for Blog Hop, an event by Radhika of Tickling Palates, something I have been ceremoniously doing and enjoying as well.

This time, I got to visit Sweatha's blog - Tasty Curry Leaf. You know what, the very first post that popped up as I opened her space attracted me and I made my mind - this is it what I'm going to try. Nevertheless, I browsed her space good and I found lot of interesting and different dishes. She has posted a variety of food from international cuisine and I'm sure everybody would get something to their liking there.

Coming to the salad, this is a very simple, easy to prepare warm salad. For the original recipe, please look here. I pepped it up a little, so providing the recipe here.

Preparing Time: 15 mins
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Tender Green Beans - 200 g
Cherry Tomatoes - a handful
Fresh Basil leaves - 2 stalks
Garlic - 2 pods
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Walnuts - 4 to 5
Pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste

Method:

Cut the beans to bite sized pieces. Blanch them in hot boiling water until just cooked and tender. This might take about 7 to 10 mins. Take care not to overcook them.

In the meanwhile, heat the butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Slice the garlic pods to thin slices. Wash and tear the fresh basil leaves. Add the garlic and basil leaves to the pan and sauté a little.

Wash and halve the cherry tomatoes. When the basil leaves wilt, add the tomatoes and walnuts to the pan and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add required salt now.

Drain the beans, add to the pan and give a stir. Done !! Garnish with freshly ground pepper and serve warm.

Verdict:

I prepared this lovely salad for an evening dinner and we both really loved it. It was light, healthy and tasted fantastic with the light note of butter, basil and garlic. It can be pepped up with different types of nuts or cheese. I'm sure this would make a good show as a warm salad in party buffets. Thank you Sweatha for this comforting salad recipe.

Health Tips:

Green beans are a rich source of dietary fibre, helps reduce cholesterol and a good source of vitamins and minerals. Fresh beans are rich in folates, which is very essential for the cell division phase and hence a must in the preconception and early pregnancy periods. For more info, refer here.

Carrying women can prepare such simple salads, which does not take much effort and at the same time helps in the healthy development of the foetus. Care should be taken not to overcook such vegetables so as to maintain their nutritional values.

Sending this healthy salad as an entry to Tickling Palate's Blog Hop Wednesday Week 15, Taste of Pearl City's Anyone can Cook Series 43 and to our own event: Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy.