Armenian Fassoulia

     I've been following Heghineh for a while now. She is where I first saw lamajun bread, which we loved. Then I saw these which looked delicious, and I had walnuts! It was clearly fate and I was determined to make them the next day. Only life got in the way and they went forgotten until I was in the store and noticed a nice package of the large flat green beans she uses. I grabbed them and had the beans on cooking before the rest of the groceries were even put away. Except by then I had eaten the walnuts. Opps! So toasted sunflower seeds got added, which work beautifully here. I made a few other minor changed that I thought would still reflect the taste but accommodate both our preferences and what I had on hand. And after making them a time or 2, or 20, I decided to just keep the sunflower seeds. I preferer them to the walnuts. 

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1 1/2 lb. Flat green beans
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. chopped toasted sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh chives, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Salt and a generous amount of black or white pepper to taste

Simmer the flat beans in boiling salted water until tender

While that is all going on you have time to make the dressing. Whisk everything together except the garlic. 

When the beans are done drain them and immediately toss with the garlic. The warm beans will cook it slightly and take away some of the sharp bitterness but not completely good it. Slice the beans in to 1 1/2 inch pieces and toss with the dressing, including any of the garlic that fell off. 

This is a chilled cold salad, and we did love it that way, but I liked them just as much right after tossing with the dressing while still warm. 

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