Beans al dente

Anecdote

Our boys went to the same play school. We had never met. In an age when mothers were truly clued on, we were the mavericks. We hardly went to school. We almost never picked up our kids. We knew very few peers. We hardly did play dates. So, when Ash invited me for her son’s birthday party, introduced herself as a co-Bong and a co-entrepreneur, I was amused. I was skeptical about my attendance at the party. To top it all it was on a Sunday. Smart-quick that she is, her parting shot, “If you don’t come for my son’s birthday, I won’t come to yours” clinched the deal.

Ash brought a lot to my life in small and large ways. She took me to a celebrity bungalow for lemon grass tea uninvited (both of us), introduced me to mosquito patches from Watsons, showed me how to fight out issues with a friend and still have the friend, dragged me to my first Kala Ghoda festival and fed me Beans Al Dante. This was on a weekday afternoon when we were having Thai green curry with plain rice and coke.

Stuff that you must have:

French beans, fresh ones
Soya sauce, dark
Salt
Sugar
Cooking oil

What to do:
              
Boil about half a Kilogram of cleaned fresh French beans. Actually par-boil it. While boiling add a pinch of salt. While its still crunchy, drain out the hot water and wash the beans in ice cold water. Wipe them dry and set them aside till serving time. If required, you can refrigerate the beans. Just before serving, warm about 2 table spoons of oil in a wok. Add a pinch of salt and half a tea spoon of sugar. Immediately thrown in the beans and stir fry. Add one table spoon of the soya sauce. Stir fry for a minute and serve them fresh.

How to serve:

Beans never tasted so good, Jack would say. I have many friends to vouch for that. You can serve them with Thai, Continental and Chinese food or with omlettes for breakfast. They look the best in pastel shaded deep bowls. My animal eating spouse absolutely loves them. These need no reference certificate from nobody.

Trivia:

In cooking, the Italian expression al dente describes pasta and (less commonly) rice or beans that have been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. "Al dente" also describes vegetables that are cooked to the "tender crisp" phase - still offering resistance to the bite, but cooked through. It is often considered to be the ideal form of cooked pasta. Keeping the pasta firm is especially important in baked or "al forno" pasta dishes. The term comes from Italian and means "to the tooth" or "to the bite", referring to the need to chew the pasta due to its firmness. The term is also very commonly used as a name for Italian restaurants around the world.