According to Fuschia Dunlop, Sichuanese chefs use up to 56 cooking methods. One of them is dry-frying (gambian), a technique where the food is turned constantly in the wok with less oil over medium heat until it dries out. There is no marinade, not much sauce, and no starch coating.1
In her excellent book, The Food of Sichuan, Fuschia’s dry-fried green beans recipe is very simple. I changed the recipe tonight, in part to use up some enoki mushrooms I needed to use somewhere, and also because I didn’t have any preserved vegetable or pork to use. I added garlic and green onions along with the enoki, and the result was delicious.
Once you know a technique, you can adapt it to different ingredients, and sometimes get amazing results. The recipe below has shortened steps, so if you’re uncertain about something, let me know in the comments.
Dry-fried green beans
Equipment
- wok or skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans trimmed
- 1 pkg enoki mushroom separated from the base
- 2 scallions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp chili crisp sauce Lao Gan Ma or other brand
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp black vinegar
- 1 tsp Sichuan pepper flakes
- 1-2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Top and tail the green beans, mince the garlic, chop the scallions. Put the garlic and scallions in a small bowl and pour the chili crisp over them.
- In another small bowl, add the two soy sauces and vinegar and cover with the chili flakes.
- Heat oil in the wok and add the green beans, stirring and flipping constantly for 8 minutes.
- Add the enoki mushrooms and continue to stir for 2 minutes
- Push the vegetables up out of the way, add a little more oil if it's dry, and add the garlic, scallions and chili crisp. Fry until fragrant, and then mix with the green beans and mushroom.
- Pour the sauce mixture over everything and blend.
- Serve it up. That was easy!
As always, if you try this dish, let me know how it turns out in the Comments section.
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