Green bean, dill & pistachio pilaf

A really easy and fun way to get your greens in. Eat this on its own or with a piece of grilled meat. You can use pre-cooked rice to speed things up. Cook it in oil and use coconut yoghurt to make this vegan.

Photography by Safia Shakarchi

ingredients

serves 4

• 75g butter

• 2 white onions, sliced

• 100g roasted pistachios or almonds, roughly chopped

• 200g green beans, trimmed and cut into 2cm pieces

• 300g basmati rice, rinsed (or 750g cooked rice)

• 1 tsp allspice berries, crushed

• 6 cardamom pods, flattened but left whole

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 200g fresh or frozen peas

• A big handful of dill, chopped, to serve

• A big handful of mint, chopped, to serve

• Turkish chilli, to serve

• Lemon wedge, to serve

  Garlic yoghurt

• 1 small garlic clove

• 200g thick yoghurt

instructions

In a large saucepan over a medium low-heat, fry the onions in the butter, very slowly, for about 10 minutes. Add alf the pistachios and some seasoning. Fry gently for another 5 minutes or until the onions are soft and golden.

Turn up the heat under the onions and add the green beans. When they’re coated in the onions, add the rice, 2 teaspoons salt and the spices and fry for a minute or so to heat them through.

Cover with 750ml boiling water, bring to the boil and stir to break up any clumps of rice. Cover the rice with a piece of baking paper and the lid, then reduce the heat to a lower setting and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and paper and stir in the peas. Replace the lid and leave the pilaf undisturbed for 5 minutes, off the heat.

Crush the garlic with a little salt and mix it into the yoghurt. When the pilaf has rested, remove the lid and fluff it up with a fork. Add the herbs, and serve with the yoghurt, a sprinkling of turkish chilli and a wedge of lemon if you like.