Lubiyeh bil Zeit (Green Beans in Olive Oil)

This is another (very simple) recipe from Our Syria. My original dinner plans for the evening fell through and I needed to throw something else together quickly. Luckily I had a bag of ready-made kibbeh in the freezer, so I was able to whip up a quick batch of yogurt sauce and rice to serve them with. But that did leave the meal somewhat lacking in veggies (since I don't count the spinach in the kibbeh stuffing). These green beans were a nice way to put something green on our plates and round out the meal.

Ideally this would be made with fresh green beans or runner beans, but I had to resort to a package of frozen green beans in this case. It still turned out great. I just omitted the water and went straight from sautéing to adding the garlic. (Although I accidentally bumped the knob on the stove to "high" instead of "off" at the end of cooking, so everything ended up a few shades darker than I'd intended. It was still fine though!)

Lubiyeh bil Ziet

Slightly adapted from Our Syria by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi

Ingredients

• 1-2 tsp. oil
• 450g green beans, trimmed and halved
• boiling water
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2-3 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• olive oil, to serve

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add beans and sauté for ~5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, boil some water.
4. Add about 1cm of boiling water to the pan and simmer until the beans soften and the water has evaporated.
5. If beans seem undercooked, add a bit more water and continue cooking until desired doneness.
6. Add the garlic and salt and cook for another minute or so.
7. Remove from heat and sprinkle with cilantro.
8. Transfer to a serving platter, drizzle with olive oil, and serve.