Dry-Fried Green Beans
干煸四季豆
If you think vegetable dishes are boring, this will change your mind. Packed with so much flavour, these string beans are hard to stop eating. It’s a classic Sichuan dish, with plenty of tingly peppercorns, a bit sweet, rich and salty and a warm spice.
The term ganbian or ‘dry-fried’ is a technique in Chinese cooking that refers to initially cooking the beans with minimal oil in the wok until dried out, then the rest of the seasoning is added, with the end result being sauceless.
Serves 2, as a side.
Ingredients
450g long string beans
2 tablespoons of oil
2 teaspoons sichuan peppercorns
1/2 thumb of ginger - diced
3 gloves of garlic - diced
3 dried red chillis - broken in half
100g ground pork
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Method
Trim the ends off the beans, then cut into about 6-8cm long pieces. De-string them if necessary too.
In a wok, heat a tablespoon of oil over a medium high heat. Add half the beans and dry-fry them for 5-10 minutes, or until blistered and wrinkled. Remove the first batch and repeat until all beans are cooked. Set aside the beans. Add more oil as you go if necessary.
Work quickly for this part to avoid overcooking the spices: add a tablespoon of oil and turn the heat down low. Add the peppercorns, ginger, garlic and chillis to the oil and fry until it smells amazing.
Add the ground pork, then turn up the heat to high. Fry the meat until brown then pour in the Shaoxing wine. Throw the beans back into the wok and then the soy sauces and sugar. Toss everything together and cook away until the sauce has cooked off.
