Chinese Food Culture

What You’ll Need to Make Chinese Green Beans

This is the popular Chinese restaurant dish featuring stir-fried green beans. It comes from the Szechuan region in western China, and like many Szechuan dishes, is highly seasoned.
The secret to making Chinese green beans is a cooking technique called “dry-frying” (gan bian) – frying the green beans until the skin starts to “pucker” and turn brown. This makes them extra tender. You can prepare this dish using green beans (also called string beans or snap beans), haricots verts, or Chinese longbeans (pictured in the photo). Serves 4.

Ingredients
• 1 lb green beans, haricots verts or Chinese longbeans
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
• 2 scallions (spring onions, green onions), white parts only, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon chili paste
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Pepper to taste, optional
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil for stir-frying, or as needed