Do you ever have days when you just don’t know what you want to eat, but your stomach is gnawing at you, demanding some sustenance, and soon?! This dish was dreamt up on such a Sunday, when I was hot, sweaty, hungry, confused, and needed food fast!

Hot days remind me of Thailand (even though I live in a hot-n-sticky tropical region of Australia), and I start to crave an abstract conglomerate of Thai flavours like coconut, lime, coriander and chilli, and textures such as soft potato, crisp green beans, and crunchy peanuts. On this particular Sunday I wasn’t clear on any of this, but my limited food supply began to inform my tastebuds of an impending explosion of flavour, and this nameless dish was born!

So, here’s how to whip up a ridiculously healthy 10-minute meal that’ll knock your socks off and leave you wanting more…. enjoy! 😛

Flavour: Tangy & slightly spicy

Serves: 2 as a light meal

Ingredients:

• 2 medium white sweet potatoes or equivalent quantity (the ones with the reddish-purple skins that are white inside – you could use the orange-fleshed ones as a substitute, although they are a bit sweeter)
• 10 snake beans (you could substitute with any green bean or snow pea if you can’t find snake beans)
• handful of peanuts
• splash of sunflower oil
• 1 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 2 bird’s eye chillies
• half cup coconut cream (I use the powdered stuff – 4-6 tablespoons works, and I don’t mix with water for this recipe as the other liquids do the job)
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• juice of 1 lime
• small bunch coriander, coarsely chopped
• small handful basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Peel and chop your sweet potatoes into roughly 2cm dice, and pop them in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes to par-cook
2. In the meantime, trim the ends off your snake beans, and snap them into 3-4cm lengths
3. Finely mince your garlic and chilli together (wash you hands well afterwards, or you’ll feel the burn!)
4. Whip up your dressing – stir the soy sauce and lime juice into the coconut cream (or powder) in a small bowl
5. Coarsely chop your coriander and basil, and stir into your dressing (if you think your dressing is too thick, you might want to add some water… if you think it’s too thin, you’ll probably stand corrected once you dress your potatoes with it, as the starch will thicken it as it mixes)
6. Once your potatoes have done their 5 minutes boiling, drain them, and heat up a wok with just a splash of sunflower oil
7. Toss your potatoes in the oil for a minute to brown them slightly, and then add the peanuts and snake beans – keep tossing the veggies every half minute or so, as you’re working with high heat and you want to distribute both heat and colouring as evenly as possible
8. After another 3 minutes, add your garlic and chilli, toss again for another minute, and then remove from the heat
9. Transfer your bean and potato mixture to plates or bowls, and dress immediately with your coconut-coriander-lime dressing
10. Devour 😉