side-dish Archives - Asianfoodtrail

Butter Beans simple Italian style recipe

Pulses have found their way regularly in our weekly dinners and compared to our childhood boring brown and white beans, cooking with spices and herbs sure brightens our palate and lifts up the taste for more. Recycling in the house by reusing various glass jars filled with all kinds of dried beans in plain sight, in stead of storing in the cupboard makes it invisible and forgotten easily. Now I am in the habit of quickly grabbing a bean variety and letting it soak overnight to a maximum of two days if cooking plans changes or I prepare them and store them in the fridge or freezer. For example making re-fried beans recipe for breakfast burrito’s, dip, salads or as a side dish.

I’ve just re-stocked buying soybeans, chickpeas, kidney beans, black-eyed beans and while at it, brought home a bag of butter beans as new addition. Haven’t prepared these creamy whites in a long time, the butter bean is a well-rounded source of nutrition, rich in protein, fiber, iron and B vitamins. Hardly any fat and all these nutrients combined will provide you with everything you need to lose weight, build muscle and feel energetic.

“Lima beans are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber, as are most other legumes. In addition to lowering cholesterol, lima beans’ high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal, making these beans an especially good choice for individuals with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia. When combined with whole grains such as rice, lima beans provide virtually fat-free high quality protein. You may already be familiar with beans’ fiber and protein, but this is far from all lima beans have to offer.” (source:whfoods.org)

Dried butter beans or Lima beans

For dried beans how-to cooking instructions click on the link for instructions.

Style variations:

With the Italian style recipe here you can easily vary by using Chinese cooking wine, Chinese (or Thai) soybean sauce, Chinese mushroom soy sauce, fresh or dried peppers or other oriental spices as garam masala the variations are endless. Garnish with coriander, spring onion instead for an Asian finish.

Butter bean simple Italian style recipe

More Butter Beans nutritional information and links:

Livestrong.com article Butter Beans nutrition facts
Finecooking.com Butter Beans

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Family favourite Thai fusion Spaghetti

Whats-for-dinner! The standard phrase coming home with the school bus in Taipei, our kids during their childhood years (14-12-8 and 6 yrs old). In random order but always the greeting came before they entered through the door, whether it was from school, sports or even now grown up and arriving from workplace or study.

Pack of hungry wolves if they brought friends along to play or finish homework, most of the time I had (healthy) snacks at hand but if I was late or not yet home they ransacked the fridge. During our years living in Taipei, I prepared this fusion dish with what I had on hand in the fridge and cupboard for a quick meal.

Which were chillies, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, black olives, spring onion, coriander, lemon grass, galangal, lemon juice and chicken thighs (for e.g. try Chinese Chicken Wings in a soy-chili marinade). Noodles and Pasta, onion, garlic, staple items with various Asian seasoning’s which included fish sauce among many other flavourings. I just started whipping up this dish, it became an instant hit becoming a regular summer or barbeque meal side dish over the years.

After our kids moved out for studies/work they called home for recipes; advice how-to instructions to prepare comfort food in their kitchens. Our kid’s cravings and questions are what initiated to write down recipes to share and celebrate good food with family, friends around the table. Writing down one recipe snowballed into more request even outside our inner-circle. From phone calls, e-mails, newsletters, social media came around combined with my geeky interest I landed here with a website blog, sharing my in- and outside kitchen adventures.

This is one of our family favourite Thai Fusion Spaghetti, a Ching recipe fusing our European background with Asian flavours. These home-cooked dishes have a blend of ordinary and exotic ingredients, colourful with a mix of spices, fresh herbs prepared and enjoyed together.

Start cooking put your teeth in it and share your comments. I have a food picture logged somewhere will add to the post, but please feel free to upload your result. Ching Thai Spaghetti recipe follows here below, enjoy!

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