In Sri Lanka, I virtually always had this green bean curry with rice or coconut roti, and I couldn’t get enough of it! The importance of using fresh ingredients cannot be overstated. While some items might be hard to come by, they are nonetheless necessary. As a vegetarian entrée or by itself as a side dish, this pairs really nicely with rice.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 5 fresh curry leaves
- 1 serrano peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- salt to taste
- 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook and stir onion, curry leaves, serrano peppers, and garlic in hot oil until onion is golden brown. Stir in curry powder, fenugreek seeds, turmeric, and salt; cook for 3 minutes more.
- Stir in green beans until evenly coated. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until beans are tender-crisp. Pour in coconut milk and simmer for at least 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice just before serving.
Reviews
I did not have the Curry leaves, and fenugreek seeds, so I doubled the curry powder and turmeric. We like our green beans, crunchy and It is delicious. I will make this one regularly.
Very tasty and different but beans really didn’t cook until I put the coconut milk in. Like others, no curry leaves or fenugreek so I “made up for it” by upping to 3 cloves garlic, 2 T curry powder and 1/2 t. turmeric. Thanks!
Delicious, better than my mums…..don’t tell her I said that.
As a Sri Lankan, I can say that this is an authentic recipe. Turned out great and my husband loved it!
I loved this! But, in truth, I changed it a lot. I didn’t have time to get curry leaves or fenugreek, so I used garam masala, as per another reviewer, and I added just a small amount of hot pepper, and, I used 1 TBS of brown sugar (as per another reviewer), and I added boiled potato cubes, sautéed mushrooms and bok choy. The green beans took longer than the recipe suggested, but, they were al dente in about 15 minutes. I tasted the flavoring continually and adjusted seasoning. It was amazing! Seriously the best curry I’ve ever eaten!!! And, I think the lime had something to do with it! This recipe (if I can recreate it), is a keeper!!!
A tasty vegetarian entree! I Added a little vegetable broth and a lid when I added the beans so that they would not burn up. Salt brings out the flavors nicely.
I loved the spice combination. I added other vegetables because I didn’t have enough green beans. I served with rice. This is a keeper.
Not being a good recipe reader I added the coconut milk too soon so the beans got effectively boiled in the milk and spices: Not a problem! We didn’t have Curry leaves but that too didn’t hurt at all. A winner for us!
I think I made too many substitutions and it didn’t come out as good as I expected.
is it me or does everything taste great with curry? 🙂 easy recipe..i didn’t have all of the ingredients, just curry, beans, seasonings, no coconut milk or fenugreek, but it still tastes great. thanks for sharing
Lovely recipe! I didn’t have any coconut milk so used plain yoghurt and grated in some fresh coconut. I also served it with some chopped cilantro sprinkled on top
I couldn’t stop eating it. It makes green beans taste like the main dish. This recipe is going to become a staple in my house.
Loved this recipe. Had to look up a few substitutions since I didn’t have curry leaves but did have kafir leaves (which worked great). Also, didn’t have enough beans for the recipe so added some potato sliced thin. Because I like my curries with a bit more sauce than the recipe created as it is, I simply added a bit more coconut milk and a bit more spice. My husband loved it. I loved it. Can’t wait for the left-overs tomorrow!
Tried this recipe did not have curry leaves or Serrano pepper instead used one green chili turned out fantastic the key is the fenugreek seeds and coconut milk.
ABoston, This is delicious, how about a recipe for coconut roti I can try with this 🙂 Dian
I didn’t have fenugreek or curry leaves but it was excellent. I added just about a half tsp of cane sugar to bring out the coconut flavor
Enjoyed trying this nice side dish! I didn’t have access to curry leaves or fenugreek seeds, but otherwise made as written. Flavorful and delicious. Thanks for sharing your recipe with AR.
My husband and I loved this one. I used it as a side dish to Tandoori chicken. I used coconut oil instead of olive oil to mirror the coconut milk and I followed the spices exactly. I couldn’t get enough! That’s my photo. Such a yummy recipe deserves a photo!
I loved it! I doubled the recipe.I chopped up the frozen green beans from my garden last fall into tiny tiny pieces.I chopped chicken breast into tiny tiny pieces added it.Put in a 400 ml can of72% less fat coconut milk.Next time I will try coconut oil instead of vegetable oil
Pretty tasty! I only had frozen green beans mixed with waxed beans and carrots, but the extra veggies only made this more delicious. I do like a sweet spicy curry so I added a tablespoon of brown sugar. The lime juice is amazing! I never knew that was what was missing in past curry recipes. I did adjust spices slightly to my preferences and used the whole can of coconut milk for extra sauce (and I thought it was grainy with only a 1/2 c). Next time I will add cube tofu.
We loved this one … perfect over brown basmati rice for a vegetarian entree … I just wish I had increased the recipe … as written it was just enough for my husband and I for dinner – no seconds 🙁