Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes 

Ingredients 
1lb (454g) runner beans
6 cardamom pods – cracked and seeded
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp hot chilli powder or chopped fresh chilli peppers
3 tbsps sesame oil
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
4oz (113g) Welsh salad onions – sliced
4oz (113g) Romero or sweet peppers – deseeded and chopped
1 dessert apple – peeled and chopped
4 tbsps natural yoghurt
Pack of filo pastry (optional) 

STEP 1 Wash then top, tail and string the beans. Cut them into fine diagonal slices. Cook in boiling water until tender. Strain and put aside. 

STEP 2 Pop the black cardamom seeds out of their green pods and into pestle and mortar. Grind them. Put all the dry spices in a wok and heat for a minute to release their flavours.  

STEP 3 Add the oil, garlic, onion, peppers and apple to the spices in the pan. Stir-fry over a medium heat until cooked through. Stir in the beans and yoghurt and heat. 

STEP 4 Either serve as a vegetable curry with rice, or make samosas by laying out strips of filo pastry, placing a spoonful of the cooked curry at the bottom, then fold up diagonally over and over to make triangular parcels. Place them on a baking sheet and cook in a hot oven at 180C (adjust for fan ovens) for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and crispy.

Amateur Gardening, the UK’s best selling weekly gardening magazine, is delighted to be associated with leading seed suppliers Mr Fothergill’s who have been providing our excellent range of cover mounted seeds since 2007. They also supply an extensive range of vegetable seeds and if you care about what you eat, now’s the time to start growing your own. To whet your appetite here are a few recipes from Amateur Gardening’s weekly Grow, cook & eat feature which I hope will inspire you to have a go at growing – and cooking – some simple crops if you don’t already do so.