Recipe | Healthy Snack of Roasted Green Beans – Of Fun, Food and Blogger Meets Recipe
I don’t know to roll a perfect Sushi and I get cold feet when I bake Macaroon and probably will never be able appreciate a glass of wine alongside my dinner plate…but still, cooking to me is a way to unwind. I am in my most happiest of moods when in kitchen, cooking for family and friends.
Did I hear ‘Old school’? I accept it with pleasure
Are you on Facebook and do you remember how many FB groups you are a member of? The emerging trend among the bloggers (read food bloggers) to start a group on Facebook has reached its peak. I have lost the number of counts of such groups I am in, few of them by choice and mostly others by force. Though I am not a regular on FB but it becomes a pain to go through hundreds of notifications from these groups every time that I log in.
I try to mute the notifications as soon as someone adds me to xyz group on FB except a few and CBC is one such group.
I was added to this group by Charan Sarvanan a versatile blogger and a treasured friend now. Back then I ignored this group on the pretext of just another FB group where bloggers drop in to give a shout out for their new blog posts or share the pictures of their cats.
But to my surprise, this small group has emerged as the most active, focused and close-knit family of bloggers from Chennai on Facebook. I have been to a couple of CBC meets and with every meet and interaction with the bloggers my appreciation has increased manifold for the group and its activities.
I could feel the energy and positive vibes whenever I attended the CBC meets. The dedication and responsibility with which this lovely admin & blogger Susan Deborah keeps everybody engaged is unmatched.
And with the multifaceted bloggers in the group writing on subjects as varied as politics, social causes, music, humor, technology, photography, architect, history, food, travel, philosophy to poems…I would love to see CBC to be a strong force of Indian bloggers to reckon with in the years to come.
Pic courtesy CBC
The cheerful group of bloggers I met in my very first CBC meet last year.
Pic courtesy CBC
Some food, fun and lovely bloggers….
Pic courtesy CBC
The latest CBC meet at Zha cafe with a very thoughtful agenda of ‘Book Sharing’ …of course there was food, laughter, songs, poetry and story telling too.
Goodies for the blogger friends….
Well, coming back to the boxes of goodies in the picture, these were baked a few weeks back for a bunch of young, energetic and creative friends for a group on Facebook I am part of. Here is what I baked, Cocoa Brownies & coffee cake and shared with all the CBC friends in a recent meet at Zha cafe.
Check the recipes for Coffee cake and Cocoa Brownies on my other blog.
This healthy snack of roasted fresh tender green beans was on the dinner table with a large vegetable Pizza I packed for children while returning back from the CBC meet in the evening.
Roasted Green Beans
Ingredients;
(serve 2)
- 250 gms fresh tender green beans
- 2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp. Olive oil/sesame oil
- 1 tsp crushed black pepper powder
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- Salt as desired
- Water to boil beans
Method; Bring 2 cups of water to boil. Cut the tail ends of the fresh beans and snap them into two.
Add the beans in boiling water, cover with a tight lid and cook for 2 minutes. Drain the beans and put them in cold water.
Heat oil in a wok or a large shallow pan, add beans and stir fry for just 2 minutes on medium heat.
Add lemon juice, sprinkle sesame seeds (Til), salt, black pepper powder (Kali mirch) and toss the beans to coat well with all the ingredients.
Roasting; Pre heat oven to 230°C, line a baking tray with parchment paper or just coat the tray with vegetable oil.
In a large bowl toss all the ingredients together.Arrange the beans evenly on the grease baking tray ad roast for 15-20 minutes. Transfer the roasted beans in a serving bowl, drizzle the lemon juice and serve.
Notes;
The beans should be very tender and fresh for this recipe, as the cooking time is very less. If the green beans you use are hard then it will not cook properly and will be chewy and not crunchy after cooking.
You can add chilly flakes, garlic or even dried herbs of your choice for this recipe.
To store the beans for future use, freeze the beans immediately after dipping in the cold water, packed in a zip lock bag.
Roasted and crushed peanuts is a good variation in the recipe.
I am not good at writing but could just about manage to scribble a few lines about the food I cook & photograph for this blog. I am more comfortable with an empty canvas, a paint brush and colors to express my thoughts.
But this group has certainly made me realize the mighty powers of pen and to think about writing beyond ‘food’.