A former coworker once scoffed at the idea that my dry-fried green beans could beat his broccoli salad at an office potluck party. Let’s just say that I left the office with an empty dish, and he didn’t. This recipe is Sichuanese in origin and involves blistering the green beans using a shallow frying method called gan bian, or “dry-frying.
Ya cai, the fermented stems of a type of Chinese mustard green, is traditionally used to season the beans. I omit this ingredient because it’s not widely available and because what is available isn’t always the best quality. You can leave out the pork to make this dish vegetarian.
Dry-fried green beans recipe and story by Hsiao-Ching Chou 2018. All rights reserved. Excerpted from Chinese Soul Food by permission of Sasquatch Books. Photography by Clare Barboza.