Szechuan Dry Fried Green Beans is a healthy Chinese Restaurant side dish specialty.
Serve these one-pan vegetarian Sichuan style green beans with fried rice and seasoned pork mince.
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📕 What is this dish?
Dry Fried Green Beans is a popular Chinese side dish from the Szechuan province in China.
It's called dry fried because the green beans are stir-fried with the least amount of oil.
The people in Szechuan (also spelled as Sichuan) are known for cooking up spicy food with red pepper and evidently for their use of the mighty Sichuan peppercorns.
The beans are fried on high heat in a wok or large skillet for a short amount of time until cooked.
By doing that the beans get shriveled but remain crispy, which adds a beautiful texture to the dish.
Sichuan green beans are commonly served at Chinese restaurant buffets as one of the many Asian side dishes.
You can prepare these spicy oriental green beans at home within 15 minutes and serve them with Chinese chicken, fish, pork and beef meals.
🔪 How to make it?
Here is a quick overview, the detailed recipe is in the recipe card further below.
Step 1
Prepare the Stir Fry Sauce.
Step 2
Stir cook fresh garlic and green beans.
Step 3
Pour stir-fry sauce over green beans and stir cook for another minute or two.
Top your green beans with chili flakes and sesame seeds or toasted sesame oil.
❓ What is Szechuan pepper?
Szechuan Pepper (or Sichuan peppercorn) is an interesting spice.
Its sharp numbing flavor resembles that of a regular black peppercorn but Sichuan pepper is not spicy per se.
It has more complex flavors.
You can purchase Szechuan pepper online, in wholefoods or in any Asian neighborhood store.
I think it's a very underrated and beautiful spice and it can be added in all kinds of Asian and Indian dishes.
In fact, Sichuan Pepper is a very common ingredient in Indian curries.
Just know that there are a few varieties of Szechuan Pepper.
Andrea from Vietworldkitchen.com shares her knowledge about the Szechuan pepper varieties.
I'm using a green variety which we purchased fresh and dried in the sun.
You can also use the red (pink) Sichuan Pepper variety for this Asian green beans recipe.
👁️ Asian side dishes
- Long Beans Stir Fry
- Orange Ginger Sugar Snap Peas by thegingeredwhisk.com
- Ivy Gourd Stir Fry
Dear Reader, with what do you serve your Szechuan green beans recipe?
📖 Recipe
Chinese Szechuan Dry Fried Green Beans Recipe
Ingredients
For the Chinese Stir Fry Sauce:
- 1 Teaspoon Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine aka shaoxi
- ½ Tablespoon Rice Vinegar
- ½ Tablespoon Soy Sauce
To stir fry:
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 2 Piece Garlic Cloves cut roughly
- ½ Inch Ginger Fresh cut into slices
- 4 Piece Sichuan Pepper
- 7 Ounces Green Beans with ends cuts off
To garnish:
- Red Chili Pepper Flakes
- Sesame Seeds *see Notes
Instructions
- First mix together all the stir fry sauce ingredients. That includes sugar, Chinese cooking wine, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Keep aside for later.
- Heat up a large shallow pan or wok and add the oil. One tablespoon is enough because we will dry fry the green beans.
- Add the sliced ginger and cut garlic to the pan, as well as the Szechuan pepper seeds and stir fry on high heat for a minute.
- Continue to add in the green beans and stir cook for a minute.
- Now pour the stir fry sauce over the green beans while keeping everything on high to medium heat and quickly stir fry everything so that the flavor are incorporated.
- Continue to stir cook on high heat for about 8 minutes or until the beans are cooked through.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes and sesame seeds and serve still hot.
Notes
- It's important that you keep the sauce ready and the green beans cleaned, and with the ends trimmed, because you will be working very quickly during the stir fry process.
- I like to use white and black sesame seeds as a garnish contrast. You can use both or either one.
- If you want to keep it less spicy, reduce or omit the red pepper flakes
- DOn't omit the Szechuan pepper in the recipe, they give a lot of flavors. You can reduce if you like but I don't think they are spicy hot.
