I’m back! It turns out that I’m like a cat; I need to lie out and charge in a sunbeam if I’m expected to do anything at all for the remainder of the day. And well, the sun skidattles from the sky by 4pm this time of the year here, so I haven’t been doing much cooking for the past few months. Yikes. But now that it’s somewhat bright when I leave the office — even if it instantly becomes pitch black by the time I reach my front door — I can feel the desire to throw down in the kitchen returning to the frozen cockles of my heart. Hooray!
This weekend’s dinner gathering hosted by my friends Sara and Adrian was the perfect push to fire up the stove again. And what better on a cold Sunday night than something green and spicy?
I’ve loved Sichuan-style long beans as long as I can remember, and though I’ll someday post a more traditional version of those, these will do for now. This recipe is not exactly the kind of long beans you’d find at your favorite Chinese spot, but they’re the kind I whip up the most often at home.
Spicy Stir-Fried Long Beans
Yield: serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: ~10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
- 1 bunch of long beans, ends trimmed and cut into 3″ pieces
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tbs fried shallots
- 2 Thai chili peppers, sliced into thin rounds
- 1 red Serrano pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 heaping teaspoon of red pepper powder
- 1 tsp rice cooking wine
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 5 tbs vegetable oil (or just a nice glug)
- 1 tbs sesame oil (optional)
- Pinch of sugar
- Pinch of salt
Make sure your long beans are nice and dry, which will help them to blister up and get a good chew on them. I always wash mine and let it dry for a few hours on a towel.
Crank up your stove to high and get your wok hot. Add in the vegetable oil and just when it starts to smoke, throw in the long beans and stir constantly. When the skin looks blistered and wrinkled, remove the beans to a paper towel to drain some of the oil off.
Reserve just about 2 tbs of the oil, turn the heat down to medium, and toss in the garlic and chilis. Stir this around for about 30 seconds, then crank the heat back up to high and toss the beans back in, along with the shallots, red pepper powder, rice cooking wine, and soy sauce. At this point, if things look a bit dry, you can drizzle it all with a tablespoon of sesame oil. Stir vigorously until everything looks combined and the beans had time to mingle with the other ingredients. Season with a bit of sugar and salt until it makes you happy. Serve with white rice.
