Gan Bian Si Ji Dou (Sichuan Green Beans)

Name: Gan Bian Si Ji Dou (Sichuan Green Beans)
Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course
Cuisine: Asia, Chinese
Ingredients: 1½ pounds, green beans, trimmed; 2½ tablespoons, vegetable oil, divided; ½ teaspoon, table salt; 1 tablespoon, Shaoxing wine or dry sherry; 1½ teaspoons, soy sauce; 1 teaspoon, sugar; 2-4 , dried arbol chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded; ½ teaspoon, Sichuan peppercorns; 1 tablespoon, minced garlic; 1 tablespoon, grated fresh ginger; 3 ounces, ground pork; 2 tablespoons, ya cai; 1 teaspoon, toasted sesame oil

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated July/August 2023

In Sichuan's gan bian si ji dou, workaday beans become dense, chewy, savory—and downright irresistible.

SERVES4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course

TIME40 minutes

has video

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Cooks at Sichuan restaurants deep-fry the beans for gan bian si ji dou because it's the quickest way to remove their excess moisture and transform them from crisp and juicy to dense and meaty. After trying several alternate methods, we land...

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