Spicy Green Beans, Szechuan-Style
Every week, we spotlight a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Here, food blogger Betty Liu helps us see green beans in a new light thanks to a few dollops of the fiery Chinese hot sauce lao gan ma.
Photo: Betty Liu
Before you holler “LIE” at me, I’d like to say this is not a traditional dish. This is the quick-and-easy shortcut version of a traditional dish, using a spicy chili oil called lao gan ma. You can find it in any Asian grocery store. It’s delicious, and honestly gives green beans more like Szechuan flavor than some American-Chinese restaurants do. This is one of those versatile, quick, easy dishes you can just whip up for dinner. It’s one of my go-to weeknight meals and for dinner parties!!
Szechuan Dry Fried Green Beans
Serves 1-2
1 cup green beans
Oil for frying
1 tablespoon lao gan ma sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
Heat wok (or large skillet) and dry fry green beans to evaporate any water. Then, add 4 tablespoons of cooking oil and fry until green beans start to shrivel and wrinkle.
Add in lao gan ma and garlic and cook some more, until green beans are quite wrinkled. Sprinkle with salt. Serve hot!
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