Have you ever eaten spicy vegetables? How do you make vegetables spicy and delicious? If you’re interested in spicy green beans, then take a look at our recipe for the day. In this Sichuan Chinese Long Beans & Pork recipe, I used long beans (also called snake beans or yardlong beans or asparagus beans) and stir-fry them them to make them delicious. In northern China, asparagus beans are widely cultivated, and the beans are grown in every season of the year, so we can often see the presence of beans on the home table. People in the south also like to cook beans as a dish for lunch or dinner.
Memories of mom’s cooking
When I was a kid, my mom loved to stir-fry beans with pork. My mom always liked to cook vegetables with some meat, which she said would make the vegetables more fragrant. My mom was probably the special “home cook” in that village, because the neighbors cooked vegetables alone as a dish. They seldom fried meat and vegetables in one pot at the same time. The dish I’m going to make today uses both pork and beans. I learned this Long Beans & Pork recipe at New Oriental Cooking School, and it reminds me of my mom’s cooking. This recipe is part of the Sichuan cuisine. If you are interested, please cook with us.
Sichuan Chinese Long Beans & Pork
Equipment
- 1 wok
- 1 bowl
- 1 wire kitchen strainer or slotted spoon
Ingredients
- 400 g green beans
- 80 g pork (fat & lean)
- 15-20 dried cháotiānjiāo chili peppers
- 1.2 g Sichuan peppercorns
- 3 cloves garlic
- 5 g fresh ginger
- 1 green onion
- 3 ml dark soy sauce
- 5-10 ml Pixian Doubanjiang bean paste
- 20 ml cooking oil
- 3 ml salt
- 3 ml Sichuan peppercorn oil
- 8 ml chili oil
Instructions
Preparation
- Prepare the ingredients we need. Wash the beans, meat, and green onions.
- Remove the head and tail of the beans, then cut into 5-7 cm (2.5 inch) pieces.400 g green beans
- Chop the green onion, ginger and garlic, dried chili pepper and pork finely.80 g pork, 3 cloves garlic, 5 g fresh ginger, 1 green onion, 15-20 dried cháotiānjiāo chili peppers
Cooking
- Add 70% of the wok's capacity of oil to the pan. Heat to 150° C (300° F). Wipe the surface of the beans and fry them in the hot oil. Over medium heat, fry the beans until the surface is wrinkled and yellow-green. NOTE: If using green beans (French beans, string beans) instead of Chinese yard long beans, you can skip this step.400 g green beans
- Remove the beans with a strainer or slotted spoon, allowing the oil to drain back into the pan. Pour the hot oil into a heat proof container.
- Add 20 ml (4 teaspoons) of oil to a clean wok, add the pork and stir-fry over medium heat until brown. Then add the doubanjiang bean paste, dark soy sauce, ginger, garlic and dried chili. Stir-fry until fragrant.80 g pork, 1.2 g Sichuan peppercorns, 3 cloves garlic, 5 g fresh ginger, 3 ml dark soy sauce, 5-10 ml Pixian Doubanjiang bean paste, 20 ml cooking oil, 15-20 dried cháotiānjiāo chili peppers
- Add the beans, green onions, and salt. Stir-fry quickly for 5 seconds, then add Sichuan pepper oil and chili oil. Stir-fry quickly and evenly.400 g green beans, 3 ml salt, 3 ml Sichuan peppercorn oil, 8 ml chili oil
- Finish.
Notes
- Pay attention to master the fire, do not stir-fry Sichuan peppercorns and dried chilies.
- If you prefer a more spicy taste, you can add 2 or 3 extra dried Vietnamese chilies, which are a very spicy chili.
- For a milder taste, substitute er jing tiao chili peppers. These are longer than the cháotiānjiāo peppers, so adjust the quantity as appropriate.
- Don’t let the dish be filled with oil, so try to drain the oil from the beans.
- In the US, if you substitute green beans (aka French beans or string beans) for the Chinese yard long beans, you can skip the deep frying. The Chinese beans cannot be eaten raw. By contrast, if you deep fry green beans, the texture will be ruined. If the beans are fresh, you can blanch them in water for a minute or two, or steam them (which is my preferred method). The texture should still be crisp, not mushy. For canned green beans, which have a softer texture due to the canning process, rinse them and drain them, and use them directly in the stir-fry.
- Fresh chili peppers are better than dried for this dish. If you only have dried peppers, you can soak them in warm water for 20 minutes before cooking. Use just enough water to cover the peppers. After the peppers have softened, remove them from the water and chop.
Nutrition
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Hello,
I am using French beans (I live in France). Do I hace to cook the French beans in water before using them? As you say ” Add the beans…for 5 seconds” I am afraid the French beans won’t be cooked enough in 5 seconds…
Thank you.
Hi Arnauld,
Thank you for visiting our site. We hope you enjoy our stories and recipes.
Chinese yard long beans, also called “snake beans” are different from regular green beans or French beans. The Yardlong beans must be blanched in oil or water before using in the finished dish.
I cannot get yard long beans where I live, so I substitute green beans. If they are fresh, I blanch them in water or steam them until I like the texture. For a stir-fry, you do not want the green beans to be mushy, they should still be crisp. My preferred method is to steam them. It takes a little longer, but I can easily check the texture and I don’t leech out the nutrients.
If I cannot get fresh green beans, I substitute canned green beans. These I just rinse and drain thoroughly before adding them to the stir-fry. Most vegetables are blanched before canning as part of the preparation.
Oh, I should add, the texture is up to you. Again, the yard long beans must be fried in the oil first, like the recipe says, but if you do this with green beans or French beans it will ruin the texture.
When steaming or blanching, take a bean, and bite into it. If you think it’s too firm, blanch or steam a little longer. It’s a matter of personal taste. However, the goal in stir-frying vegetables is tender but crispy, not mushy.
Hi Glenn,
I tried the recipe a few days ago, cooking the French beans in water a few minutes (but not long enough to my taste) . I will definitely try again the recipe following your recommendations as I enjoyed my first try.
Thank you for your useful site and recipes.