Dry-Fried Green Beans 乾煸四季豆

Dry-Fried Green Beans 乾煸四季豆 (gān biān sì jì dòu) is a traditional Sichuan dish.  It’s generally made spicy with fresh and/or dried chilis but my heat tolerance is only mediocre, I only added one Thai chili (yes, I’m a wimp). 

This is one of my favourite vegetable dishes because it’s so tasty and the green beans are crisp and sweet.  When I go to a Chinese restaurant, I can’t help but to order this dish if it’s on the menu.  But restaurants usually deep-fry the green beans first to give it good texture.  So it’s more a guilty pleasure than a healthy alternative.

Of course the solution is to make it yourself without deep-frying.  Although, it’s hard to beat the taste of anything deep-fried, I actually find that it can also be quite good just stir-frying it.  I believe the original recipe does not call for deep-frying.  The words 乾煸 or dry-frying means to use high heat to extract the moisture or water from the food and then the heat would quickly evaporate the water in the wok.  If the heat isn’t high enough, you may get a pool of water in the wok.  If the heat is too high or there’s not enough oil, the food could easily burn. 

In my Dry-Fried Green Beans 乾煸四季豆 recipe, I’ll show you how to make this dish without deep-frying and greatly reduce the risk of burning the green beans.  Your green beans will turn out vibrant, crispy and tender.  The flavourful minced shiitakes, garlic, shallots, chilis and preserved vegetables complement the subtle sweetness of the green beans so well!  This is a tasty dish that goes well with rice or even plain congee.  You can also consider using this recipe to make fried rice.  Just dice the green beans and fry some rice with all the ingredients.  There’s a traditional Cantonese fried rice that uses Chinese long green beans and pork cracklings (豆角炒飯).  I haven’t tried combining these two dishes yet, but I think it’d be marriage made in heaven!

Looking for more healthy options? Try my Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry 番茄炒蛋 or

Dry-Fried Green Beans 乾煸四季豆

You can use this recipe for any vegetable that doesn’t have too much water content. Asparagus, cauliflower, eggplant and broccoli are some good ones. I wouldn’t recommend dry-frying for vegetables like spinach, bok choy or lettuce though.

You may also consider adding ground pork, olives, chopped dried shrimp, pork cracklings, Sichuan peppercorn, dried red chilis, XO sauce, hot bean paste and peanuts.

The preserved vegetables are optional but I like the bit of crunch and additional flavour that it offers to the dish. I used preserved radish 菜脯 (cài pǔ). Preserved mustard greens 榨菜 (zhà cài) would be a better option to maintain its Sichuan flavour.

5 from 1 vote

Approximate cost (CAD) $4

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Total Time 23 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine Chinese, Sichuan

Servings 2 Serv

Calories 364 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 450 g Green beans
• 4 Shiitake mushrooms , diced or minced (dry or fresh)
• 1 Shallot , diced or minced
• 5 cloves Garlic minced
• 30 g Preserved radish /vegetable (optional)
• 1-2 Thai chilis
• ½ tsp Salt
• ¾ tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Light soy sauce
• ½ tsp Dark soy sauce
• 4 tbsp Oil
• 60 ml Water

Instructions

 

• Soak dry shiitake mushrooms the night before to soften
• Remove ends of green beans, wash and snap apart to your desired length
  
• Prepare and dice shiitake mushrooms, shallot, garlic, chilis and preserved radish Any savoury preserved vegetable will be suitable
  
• Heat wok on high, add 2 tbsp oil, add green beans and ½ tsp salt
  
• Stir-fry green beans for 1 minute, then add 60 ml water Adding a bit of water will help cook the green beans quicker and prevent burning
  
• Keep stir-frying until water evaporates and you see a bit of charring on the green beans. Remove green beans from wok
  
• Add 2 tbsp of oil to the wok
• Add shallots, garlic, chilis and preserved radish to the wok.
  
• Stir-fry until aromatic and move them to one side of the wok
• Add shiitake mushrooms to wok and fry on its own for 30 seconds, then mix everything together
  
• Add green beans back into the wok
  
• Add ¾ tsp sugar, 1 tsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp dark soy sauce. Stir-fry and mix well for 30 seconds
  
• Turn off heat and taste test. Make adjustments if necessary The salt level of the preserved radish may vary, so you may need to adjust the amounts of soy sauce accordingly
• Serve
  

Nutrition

Calories: 364kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 7gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gMonounsaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gSodium: 1093mgPotassium: 646mgFiber: 8gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 1571IUVitamin C: 45mgCalcium: 114mgIron: 3mg

Keyword Garlic, Green Beans, Shallot, Shiitake Mushroom, Thai Chili

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