Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans with Pork
SICHUAN · CHINA

Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans with Pork

干煸四季豆Side

Blistered, wrinkled green beans tossed with crisp pork, dried chillies and a hit of numbing peppercorn. The Sichuan classic that turns a humble bean into the best thing on the table.

Total
30 min
Heat
3/5
Serves
4

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Flavour profile

Heat
Funk
Acid
Richness
Umami
  • Charred
  • Garlicky
  • Numbing
  • Spicy

The real deal

Region
Sichuan, where gan bian — 'dry-fried' — means cooking without liquid until the edges char.
Technique
Green beans blistered in hot oil until wrinkled and slightly charred, then stir-fried with pork and aromatics.
We kept
Yibin ya cai, dried chillies, Sichuan peppercorns and the dry-fry technique. Nothing is watered down.

Ingredients

4 Serves

Wok

  • 500 g · trimmed, left whole
  • 150 g
  • 40 g · rinsed, chopped fine
  • 8 · snipped, seeds out
  • 1 tsp
  • 3 cloves · minced
  • 2 cm · minced
  • 2 · white parts minced, greens sliced
  • 4 tbsp
  • ½ tsp

Sauce

  • 1 tbsp
  • 1 tbsp
  • ½ tsp

finish

  • 1 tsp

Method

  1. Top and tail and pull any strings. Leave them whole — they blister better and keep their bite. Snip into 2 cm pieces and shake out the seeds. Mince and , and slice , keeping the white parts separate from the greens. Rinse well to lose excess salt, squeeze dry and chop it fine.

    Wet beans spit in hot oil. Dry them well on a tea towel before they hit the wok.

  2. Stir together , and in a small bowl. Park it by the stove.

  3. Heat a wok over high heat with 3 tbsp . Add the beans and fry, stirring and pressing them against the metal, until they are wrinkled, blistered and patchy brown, about 5 min. Tip them onto a plate.

    Do not crowd the wok. If the beans steam instead of blister, cook them in two batches.

  4. Add 1 tbsp to the wok if it looks dry, then the . Break it up and fry until it is crisp and no longer pink, about 3 min.

  5. Push the pork aside. Add and to the oil and stir for about 20 sec, until the chillies smell toasty and turn deep red. Do not let them blacken.

    Hot oil, not smoking oil, or the dried chillies go bitter.

  6. Add , , the white parts of and the . Toss until fragrant, about 30 sec — the yacai smells savoury and deep.

  7. Return the beans to the wok. Pour in sauce and toss hard for about 1 min, until the beans are glossy and the pork clings to them. Season with ½ tsp .

  8. Kill the heat. Stir through and the scallion greens, then slide onto a plate and serve while the beans are still wrinkled and crisp.

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