Dry Cooked String Beans 干煸四季豆

It’s about fire. It’s about the wok. You can’t be afraid of high heat and cook this dish.

I tried to follow the recipe as much as possible with the cook book except that I switched the amount for dried shrimp and meat. It wasn’t much like what I’ve eaten in Sichuan restaurants in Malaysia. They tend to make it spicy and tie the whole dish together with cornstarch.

But this version from this book is absolutely dry.

I read from this Mainland Chinese website (the pic is not the same as the recipe given!!, LOL), that to make this dish, it has to be as dry as possible. And so, the local version is not that authentic, is it? I don’t know.

This version is not spicy at all, errr. Or maybe it’s my preserved vege that isn’t spicy? Despite that, it’s still nice and fragrant. Next time I’ll try to make the local version.. with lots of chilli, more meat and has some thick gravy.

Dry Cooked String Beans- Sichuan style干煸四季豆

Recipe source: Wei Chuan cookbook with amount of ingredients slightly modified


400gm French/green/string beans
1 heaped Tbsp chopped dried shrimp (rinse before chopping)
2 heaped Tbsp minced meat
4 heaped Tbsp chopped Sichuan preserved vegetable (I used strips in packs榨菜, zha choy)
1 Tbsp chopped spring onion
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine (I used shaoxing)
½ tsp sesame oil
1 cup oil for deep frying

Seasoning
½ Tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
1 Tbsp water

1. Rinse beans and let them air dry. Trim ends. Deep fry the beans until they blister and you can smell the fragrance. Drain and set aside.
2. In a clean dry wok, fry the Sichuan vegetable until it no longer feels wet. Dish up.
3. In a very hot wok, put 1 Tbsp of oil into wok and cook pork until the meat looks opaque. Put in dried shrimp and cook until it turns fragrant and dry. Put in Sichuan vegetable and cook until it’s very very fragrant and dry.
4. Return fried beans to wok and give it a good toss with everything in wok. Put cooking wine in and cook for 10 seconds. Put seasonings in and cook for another 10-15 seconds (It should look dry and smell very very fragrant)
5. Put in spring onion and sesame oil. Toss the beans and turn off the heat. Dish up and serve.

Have a nice long weekend!