Thursday, June 21, 2012

Garlic Long (Green) Beans with Sesame Seeds 蒜炒芝麻香四季豆

Wok-Fried String Beans sometimes a dish appearing in restaurant menu as Wok-Fry Four-Seasons Beans 干煸四季豆 is a dish of wok-fried string beans or green beans with ground meat. The dish may look simple but there are key steps to getting that "wrinkled" crunchy look on the beans in this dish.


For the home cook who enjoys to keep the cooking simple and fuss-free without forgoing taste, this is a personal rendition after trying a vegetarian version in one of our favorite Chinese vegetarian eateries in Bay Area, California - Royal Green. This eatery does a vegetarian version of Dried-Fried Four-Seasons Beans 干煸四季豆 with bits of preserved veggies to up the flavor.

Though my rendition does it with no ground meat, it is considered non-vegetarian with the use of dried (krill) shrimps.


Note: If you are going for the vegetarian version, omit the dried shrimps/krill.


At home, I usually try to recreate an eatery or restaurant dish I have tried, using fresh ingredient as I do not stock up preserved pantry items in my kitchen. But I do keep dried items such as dried shrimps and dried anchovies (those that does not have additional salt or preservatives in them) since these can be my "seasonings" many times instead of using salt.

Other than salt and spice, how do you flavor up dishes?

Wok-Fried Four-Seasons Beans 蒜炒芝麻香四季豆
Toast up 1-2 tsps dried shrimps/krill (omit this if vegetarian) in a pan, dish out and set aside. Add some oil and aromatize 1 tbsp finely chopped onions/shallots till they turn soft and translucent. Add 2 tsps finely mined garlic, then add the toasted krill back to the pan and sweat the mixture in medium-heat. After about 2-3 minutes, add green beans (Note: you can use string beans, long beans) and cook till the beans are tender and cooked. Add water sparingly to the pan only if the mixture becomes too dry and start to "burn" the garlic. Before serving, sprinkle 1tsp of toasted sesame seeds to the fried beans.




Sharing Long (Green) Beans with Weekend Herb Blogging WHB#339 hosted by Simona of Briciole

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