Dry-Seared Green Beans

Locale: China

Source: Irene Kuo, The Key to Chinese Cooking [p. 380]

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb green beans
  • 1 c oil
  • 0.25 lb ground pork
  • 1 tbs dried shrimp
  • 1 tbs Szechuan preserved vegetable
  • 1 tbs Tientsin preserved vegetable

Seasonings:

  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs Chinese wine
  • 0.5 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbs water
  • 1 tbs sesame oil
  • 1 tbs scallion greene, finely chopped

Steps

  1. Rinse and dry green beans; break off ends. March-chop ground pork to loosen. Cover dried shrimp with boiling water and soak for 30 minutes; drain and mince fine. Rinse Szechuan preserved vegetable; mince. Mince Tientsin preserved vegetable. Arrange shrimp and preserved vegetables on a small dish.

  2. Heat oil in large wok or deep fryer, to 375F. Deep fry green beans until wrinkled and blistered, in multiple batches. Dry on paper towels.

  3. Return 3 tbs. oil to pan. Scatter in pork, breaking up into small bits. Stir until it begins to brown; then add minced shrimp and pickled vegetables. Add green beans, turning over a few times. Add seasonings and scallions; stir in sweeping motions until liquid is absorbed. Serve.

Notes

  1. This is modified from Kuo's recipe. She omits the Tientsin vegetable (a salted cabbage) and includes 1/2 tsp salt. She also offers a variation with no shrimp and no Szechuan vegetable, but with 1 tbs Tientsin vegetable and 1 tsp chili-pepper oil. I prefer my version, everything but the hot oil. Of course, you can add hot oil or dried chili flakes to taste.

  2. The Szechuan vegetable is basically preserved in chili pepper and salt, so I wash it off before using. I frequently go well over the recipe quantities of pork, dried shrimp and/or pickled vegetables. I also don't discriminate between scallion greens and whites. If you strictly follow the recipe the green will dominate the dish and it will look better, but the green beans are almost tasteless in this dish (except for the absorbed seasonings), while the shrimp and vegetables have very strong tastes.

  3. Of all the dishes I've fixed, this was my mother's favorite. Of all her dishes, my favorite was fresh Kentucky Wonders braised with a little onion and bacon. I've never reproduced her recipe, probably because I've never taken the trouble of growing my own beans.

  4. I've tried substituting chopped (relatively lean "center cut") bacon for the ground pork. It works fine, although it tends to make an already salty dish even saltier.

  5. Tried prepping the beans using an air fryer. On Cosori, preheat 400F, then 'root vegetables' (400F), adjust time to 13 minutes. I started with less time, but 13 minutes is where I wound up.

Log

  1. 2008-11-21:
  2. 2015-06-18: