A mortar and pestle or small food processor are helpful here, but a large knife is fine if you have neither. You will also need a steamer setup and a medium frying or sautè pan.

Start by trimmiming the beans, then slicing them in half. Slice any that are especially long into thirds. Place them in a bowl that will fit in your steamer. Set aside.

Prepare lemons: squeeze your fresh lemons for juice and mince your preserved lemons.

Now place your garlic clove wherever you intend to pound it–I used a mortar and pestle, Add the 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Bash it. The papery covering will come off. Remove it. Add the cumin and paprika. Pound everything into a paste. Set aside.

Set up your steamer. Make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of your bowl. Once the water reaches a boil, turn it down to lively simmer and cover the pan with a lid. Steam 5-6 minutes. Avert your head when removing the lid. 

Allow the bowl of beans to cool while you place the medium frying pan on another burner. Add the olive oil to the pan and turn heat to medium low.

Scrape the pounded garlic/spice mixture into the pan. Cook gently for a minute or so.

Using oven mitts, pick up the bean bowl and tip beans in carefully. Stir to blend garlic/spice mixture with beans. Cook for two minutes, then add both lemon mixtures. Stir to blend.

Add just enough water to ensure nothing sticks to pot: you want flavorful mixture to adhere to the beans, not the pan.

Turn head down if necessary. Cook for about five minutes. Beans can be crisp tender, or a little more done, if you prefer it. Taste for salt, and either serve immediately, or allow flavors to mellow. They will only improve.

Green beans with fresh and preserved lemon juice may be refrigerated up to five days. Freezing not recommended.

Notes:

The original recipe calls for fava beans, which are steamed whole, unpeeled, for 5-8 minutes, then allowed to cool, peeled, and carry on from there. You might also try this using asparagus, Romano beans, yellow (wax) beans, or any other fresh green beans you have access to. Zucchini would also be very tasty this way.

My garlic cloves were very large, so I used only one. If yours are smaller, use two.

If you loathe cilantro, use all parsley

As noted in the post, if you don’t have preserved lemon, use additonal lemon juice to taste, and if your lemon is organic, a bit of minced peel. Taste for salt; preserved lemons are salty, and your dish may need more to compensate.