Name: Stir-Fried Sichuan Green Beans
Yield: 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese, Asia
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon dry sherry; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch; 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper; 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard; 2 tablespoons water; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces; 1/4 pound ground pork; 3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon); 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger; 3 scallions, white and light green parts sliced thin; 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Why This Recipe Works

To achieve a chewy texture similar to that of gan bian si ji dou, a traditional Sichuan green bean dish, we stir-fried the beans longer than usual so that they became charred in places, giving them the deep, caramelized flavor we wanted. To create the right sauce for our Sichuan-inspired green bean recipe, we combined dry mustard, dry sherry, a little sugar, ground white pepper, chopped scallions, and a drizzle of sesame oil and then added simple ground pork, which worked fine as a replacement for shredded bits of Chinese barbecued pork sometimes added to this dish.

Before You Begin

To make this dish vegetarian, substitute 4 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and minced, for the pork. If using mushrooms, you will need to add a teaspoon of oil to the pan in step 3 before adding the mushrooms. The cooking of this dish goes very quickly, so be sure to have all the ingredients prepped before you start. Serve this dish with steamed white rice.

Instructions

In small bowl, stir together soy sauce, sherry, sugar, cornstarch, white pepper, pepper flakes, mustard, and water until sugar dissolves; set aside.

Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add beans and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender and skins are shriveled and blackened in spots, 5 to 8 minutes (reduce heat to medium-high if beans darken too quickly). Transfer beans to large plate.

Reduce heat to medium-high and add pork to now-empty skillet. Cook, breaking pork into small pieces, until no pink remains, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds. Stir sauce to recombine and return beans to pan with sauce. Toss and cook until sauce is thickened, 5 to 10 seconds. Remove pan from heat and stir in scallions and sesame oil. Serve immediately.