Eat Healthy and Cheap
Dry-Fried Green Beans
Dry-frying, gan bian in Sichuan cooking, blisters vegetables in a bare, scorching wok instead of a bath of oil, and green beans take to the technique better than almost anything else in the produce aisle. The trick without oil is patience: beans that go into the pan bone dry blister and char at the surface because there is no film of fat between the bean and the hot metal slowing the transfer of heat. Garlic, ginger, and chile go in only after the beans are already blistered, so they toast for seconds instead of scorching over ten minutes of contact with the pan. Sichuan peppercorn supplies the tingling ma that keeps the chile's straightforward heat from being the only thing you taste.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Green beans, trimmed, patted very dry
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Ginger, minced
- 3 Scallions, sliced, whites and greens kept separate
- 8 Dried Thai chiles, left whole
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn, lightly crushed
- 1 tbsp Low-sodium tamari
- 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tbsp Sesame seeds, toasted
Method
- Trim the green beans and pat them completely dry with a towel, front and back. Any surface water flashes to steam in the hot pan and steams the beans instead of blistering them, which is the difference between wrinkled and charred and just dull and boiled.
- Heat a dry cast iron skillet or carbon steel wok over high heat for 2 minutes, until a bean dropped in sizzles on contact. No oil goes in the pan. The bare hot metal is what blisters the skins.
- Add the beans in a single layer, working in two batches so they are not stacked on top of each other. Leave them alone for 2 to 3 minutes at a stretch, turning only when the underside has gone brown and blistered, until every bean is wrinkled and charred in spots, 8 to 10 minutes total.
- Push the beans to one side of the pan, or tip them onto a plate, and drop the garlic, ginger, scallion whites, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorn into the bare hot spot. Toast, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds, just until the chiles darken a shade and the garlic smells sweet instead of sharp. Past that point they turn bitter.
- Return the beans to the pan if you moved them, add the tamari, and toss for 1 minute so the liquid reduces to a glaze instead of pooling at the bottom.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the black vinegar, then scatter the scallion greens and sesame seeds over the top. Toss once more and serve hot. The beans lose their blister as they cool.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 75 calories, 3 g protein, 4 g fiber. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt.
