Chinese recipes
Sichuan Beans
6 ounces finely-ground pork

Marinade:

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 pinches freshly-ground white pepper
2 cups groundnut/peanut oil
1 pound green beans, French beans -- topped and tailed
or Chinese yardlong (snake) beans -- snapped 4" lengths
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried shrimp (har mai) -- soaked 1 hour in
warm water, drained and minced
3 garlic cloves -- crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons preserved Sichuan vegetable (jar choi)
2 teaspoons chili bean paste
1 red chili pepper -- finely chopped,
for garnish

Place the ground pork in a bowl, add all of the marinade ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Heat the groundnut oil in a wok until moderately hot. Deep-fry the beans in 3 batches until the skins begin to wrinkle and the beans are softened (about 3 minutes). Remove and drain well. Pour off most of the oil from the wok, leaving about 1 tablespoon behind.

Heat the remaining groundnut oil. Add the pork and quickly stir-fry over high heat with the salt, dried shrimp, garlic, preserved Sichuan vegetable, and chili bean paste. Stir-fry until the meat changes color from pink to white, about 2 minutes. Return the beans to the wok and toss until well combined and heated through. Serve, either hot or cold, garnished with the chopped red chili pepper.

This recipe yields 6 servings.

Comments: This unusual-shaped bean is an ancient Chinese vegetable. It is a long (15-inch), thin, round bean, olive green in color with a "meatier" softer texture and stronger flavor than the green bean. The southern Chinese eat the young bean whole or simply snapped in half. The northerners use the vegetable dried.

Source


Print this recipe