Spicy Green Beans

If you live in the Bay area and haven't been to Burma Superstar, then you need to change that...STAT. This place is always crowded, granted it is a super small restaurant, but still. I often crave their Samusa Soup, which is a thick spiced broth with potatoes and peas filled fritters and falafels. My mouth is watering just writing about it. We always get the soup and their Tea Leaf Salad. Yes, you heard it right, tea leaves...in your salad. Don't cringe just yet...its not the regular English Breakfast tea leaves. In fact its fermented green tea leaves, which means the tea leaves are steeped in hot water and then blended with spices. It sounds strange but this happens to be their most popular dish. My husband, who doesn't like drinking tea or coffee, actually enjoys eating this salad. I always make him try weird food and I almost always fail to impress. But this tea leaf salad was a winner.

Ok enough about the salad, this post is about the green beans dish. I bought green beans in one of those pre-packaged bags at Trader Joe's and I had plenty leftover so I decided to give this recipe a shot. I guessed the ingredients and it tasted pretty close to the restaurant's dish. I had my close friends, Devina and Nisha test his recipe out and they approved! 

Ingredients

15 string beans, (cut in 2 inch pieces, if desired)
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce, add more if needed
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, add more per your taste preference
1/4 tsp salt, adjust per your taste preference

Steps 

1. Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a small nonstick pan on medium heat.
2. Add minced garlic and cook for about 15 seconds.
3. Add chopped green beans, soy sauce, crushed red pepper & salt per your taste. Sprinkle a few drops of water, cover and cook on medium heat until the green beans are tender - cooked but not mushy - they should still have a little bit of a crunch.
4. Serve warm with either white or brown rice. 

Optional - Add drained and cubed tofu after Step 1 and sauté until the tofu changes color to light brown or becomes a bit crispy, about 2 minutes. Continue with Step 2.

Time 15-20 minutes | Serves 1