Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans(Gan Bian Si Ji Dou)
Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans is an irresistible Sichuan dish with its crispy texture and spicy flavor. Let's unlock the secrets of this classic dish together.
What is dry - stir - frying?
Simply put, it is to slowly dry out the moisture of ingredients over medium heat until a slightly charred layer forms on the surface.
Unlike deep - fried food with a thick layer of oil, the food made by dry - stir - frying has a crispy outer layer and a somewhat chewy inside, and it can especially lock in the aroma of seasonings.
Many people think that dry - stir - frying means using a lot of oil and stir - frying over high heat. In fact, it's the opposite.
Keep the heat at medium throughout the process. For hard vegetables like green beans, patiently press them with a spatula while stir - frying. Similar to frying a steak, force out the moisture. When you hear a rustling sound, it's just right.
Ingredient description and substitutions
Green beans: Tear off the tough strings at both ends and cut them into segments about the length of an index finger. It's enough to fry until the surface becomes slightly wrinkled. If you're worried about too much oil, you can use an air fryer to bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 8 minutes. Flip them over halfway through for more even cooking.
Ground meat: It is recommended to use ground pork with a fat - to - lean ratio of 3:7. The rendered fat makes it more fragrant. During the fat - loss period, use ground chicken breast. Mix it with half a spoonful of starch in advance to make it more tender.
Minced ginger and garlic: Chop them as finely as possible so that the aroma can come out more easily when stir - frying. If you're short on time, use a garlic press for garlic, cut the ginger into thin slices first, then into shreds and chop them.
Dried chili peppers: Cut them into segments and shake out half of the chili seeds to make the spiciness milder. If you can't eat spicy food, replace them with colored pepper shreds, but the aroma will be weaker. You need to add half a spoonful of chili oil to compensate.
Sichuan peppercorns: Slowly roast them in cold oil over low heat until fragrant. Remove them before they turn black. If you want to take it easy, you can replace them with half a spoonful of Sichuan peppercorn oil, but remember to drizzle it at the end. The numbing flavor is easily lost at high temperatures.
Soy sauce + sugar: Drizzle the soy sauce along the side of the pot to get a fragrant char flavor. The amount of sugar should be about the size of a small fingernail. If you prefer a sweeter taste, you can add half a spoonful of sweet rice wine, which has more flavor than pure sugar.
Do I need to use a wok?
A wok is indeed the first choice. The arched bottom of the wok allows the ingredients to be heated evenly, and it's also less likely for the ingredients to fall out of the wok when stir - frying. I've tried using a frying pan, but the green beans at the edges are always not thoroughly stir - fried. You have to keep flipping them, which is quite laborious.
A thick - bottomed cast - iron pan has a similar effect, but it takes longer to preheat. If you really don't have a wok, you can use a deep non - stick pan. Pay attention to setting the heat to medium and don't exceed the heat - resistance limit of the pan. When stir - frying green beans, do it in small batches.
What are the characteristics of this Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans?
The most attractive thing about this Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans is that the outer layer is crispy and covered with a spicy, numbing, and fragrant flavor. When you bite into the core of the green beans, there is still a fresh and crisp texture.
The green beans stir - fried in oil seem to be wrapped in a thin and crispy shell. Mixed with the scorched aroma from the Sichuan peppercorns and the spicy flavor of the dried chili peppers, even the ground meat at the bottom of the plate has absorbed all the flavor of the wok.
If you haven't tried this dish before, I'm sure you'll fall in love with it after the first bite.
INGREDIENTS
Main Ingredients
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·400g green beans (cut into 5 - cm segments)
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·200g ground meat
Additional Ingredients
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·10g ginger (minced)
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·10g garlic (minced)
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·30g dried chili peppers (cut into 2 - cm segments)
Seasonings
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·5ml black vinegar
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·5ml cooking wine
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·2g sugar
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·5ml soy sauce
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·5g salt
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·Appropriate amount of oil (for frying green beans) + 20 ml (for stir - frying)
COOKING STEP
Step 1
Remove both ends of 400g of green beans and cut them into 5 - cm segments. Set aside. Mince 10g of ginger, mince 10g of garlic, and cut 30g of dried chili peppers into 2 - cm segments. Set these aside.
Step 2
Pour oil into the pot. After it gets hot, put in the green beans. Keep turning the green beans with a spatula until their surface becomes like tiger skin. Then take them out and set aside to drain the oil.
Step 3
Add another 20 ml of oil to the pot. Put in 10g of Sichuan peppercorns and stir - fry over low heat. After the aroma of the Sichuan peppercorns comes out, remove and discard them.
Step 4
Put 10g of minced ginger and 10g of minced garlic into the pot. Stir - fry over high heat until the aroma immediately wafts out. Then add 30g of dried chili pepper segments and stir - fry a few times to release the spiciness.
Step 5
Add 200g of ground meat and quickly stir - fry until the ground meat is cooked through and turns white.
Step 6
Add 5ml of black vinegar, 5ml of cooking wine, and 2g of sugar. Stir well.
Step 7
Add 5ml of soy sauce and stir evenly. Then put in the fried green beans and stir well.
Step 8
Add 5g of salt and stir well. Taste it. If the flavor is right, it's ready. Turn off the heat, transfer to a plate, and it's ready to serve.
More recipes worth trying
Shredded Potato Stir Fry with Vinegar（醋溜土豆丝）
Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans
Ants Climbing A Tree (Ma Yi Shang Shu)
Mistakes to Avoid
Leaving the strings of green beans uncleaned can cause them to get stuck in your teeth:
Completely remove the strings on both sides of the green beans. Cutting them diagonally not only makes them look better but also allows the rough surfaces to soak up the flavor of the oil more easily.
The oil temperature must be high enough:
When the green beans are put into the oil, there should be a "sizzle" sound and a dense layer of small bubbles should appear on the surface. Take them out when the surface starts to wrinkle. The residual heat will make the inside tender. The perfect balance of crispy exterior and tender interior depends on this timing.
Handling of Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers:
Remove the Sichuan peppercorns immediately after they become fragrant. Leaving them in the pot will make the dish unpleasantly bitter. After breaking the dried chili peppers into sections, shake out the seeds. Stir - fry them over medium heat until they turn bright red without getting charred. This way, the spiciness and aroma will be just right.
Avoid turning the minced meat into meat scraps:
Stir the fatty and lean minced meat with chopsticks to break it up before putting it into the pot. Put it into the cold oil and slowly spread it out. If the oil is too hot, the meat will clump up instantly and taste dry and sawdust - like.
The way to pour vinegar:
Pour the black vinegar onto the hot pot wall. This way, the sour taste will evaporate just right. Pouring it directly onto the dish will make it smell sour, like leftovers from the previous day.
The timing of adding salt:
Sprinkle salt after the green beans develop a tiger - skin pattern. The saltiness will seep into the crevices. When you bite into the crispy shell, the savory flavor will burst out, making the dish taste much better than adding salt too early.
Recipe Variations
Meat Substitution Version
When using minced chicken breast, add half a spoonful of starch and marinate it. This will make the meat more tender and prevent it from being dry. When substituting minced meat with diced shrimp, quickly blanch the shrimp first to set their shape and then stir - fry to avoid moisture affecting the taste.
Vegetarian - Friendly Version
Remove the minced meat and add diced king oyster mushrooms and pieces of puffed wheat gluten. First, dry - stir - fry the mushrooms to remove the moisture. Pre - marinate the puffed wheat gluten with soy sauce. Finally, stir - fry them together with the green beans for a chewier texture.
Air - Fryer Version
Toss the green beans with a little oil and air - fry at 180°C for 12 minutes, flipping them halfway through. This can save oil and maintain the crispness. Sprinkle chili powder on the surface instead of dried chili pepper segments to make the spiciness more evenly distributed.
Spicier and Numb Version
Replace the dried chili peppers with Carolina Reaper peppers and increase the amount of Sichuan peppercorns to 15 grams. Add half a spoonful of rattan pepper oil before removing the dish from the heat and sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorn powder to double the spicy and numbing aroma. Pair it with iced mung bean soup to relieve the spiciness.
Sweet and Salty Flavor Version
Increase the amount of sugar to 8 grams and use Cantonese sweet soy sauce instead of regular soy sauce. Add diced pineapple when stir - frying the minced meat. The sweet and sour fruit aroma can balance the greasiness, making it suitable for children's tastes.
Korean Fusion Version
Replace the minced meat with chopped kimchi and add 1 spoonful of Korean chili paste. Finally, sprinkle with seaweed flakes and sesame seeds. Serve with purple rice to present a mix of Asian flavors.
Leftover Storage
Let the green beans cool completely to room temperature, then store them in a sealed container. In the refrigerator, they can stay fresh for about 3 - 4 days.
If possible, I suggest reheating them directly in the pan!
If not, using the microwave is also okay. Reheat them every 30 seconds until they are fully heated.
FAQs:
In addition, choose fresh green beans. Older green beans tend to be more bitter.
First, brush a layer of oil on the surface of the green beans, which can make the outer skin more crispy.
If you can't eat too spicy food, you can reduce it to 10 - 15g. You can also cut the chili peppers into slightly larger segments and pick them out at the end and not eat them.
You can also directly omit the minced meat and appropriately increase the amount of minced garlic and minced ginger to enhance the aroma.
