Sichuan green beans, pungent, spicy and delicious!
Yummy, super easy and quick Sichuan green beans. In particular great as a side dish, but also as a quick lunch served with some plain white rice.
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
🥘 Main ingredients
- green beans
- vegetable oil
- chilli paste
- onion
- garlic
- finely ground Sichuan pepper
- toasted sesame seeds
- parsley
- soy sauce
- rice vinegar
- fine brown sugar
- water
- red pepper flakes
Sichuan cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine originating from the Sichuan province . It has bold flavours, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from largely used garlic and Chili peppers, as well as the unique flavour of Sichuan pepper. Which has slight lemony overtones and gives a bit of numbness on the tongue.
🌶 How to use Sichuan pepper
Sichuan pepper, even though using the name ‘pepper’ is not at all the same as black or white pepper. In actual fact it is a berry so it is botanically not related to black or white pepper. So, it is used in a different way than regular pepper.
For the use of ground Sichuan pepper; Remove the black inner seed. In most cases this has already been done. Only the husks of the Sichuan pepper is dry toasted. After cooling down it is best to grind it by hand, and sieve it. Best and most flavoursome while using fresh.
You can use this ground Sichuan pepper in dressing, or sprinkle it over your favourite dishes. It adds a citrussy tone to your dishes, and it gives a tingly numbing effect to your tongue.
Sichuan green beans
This green bean dish is a perfect side dish to many Chinese dishes. In China people tend to share different dishes. It is super quick to make. By stir-frying the beans you create a whole different texture in comparison to boiling or steaming beans. The beans shrivel up and shrink a bit.
These green beans are part of my; ‘Travels of taste‘ series. We use our taste buds to travel the world. If you are ready to imagine yourself travelling through China whilst discovering all its flavours. Check out my full China ‘travels of taste’ post; >>> China, It’s all about FOOD!
If you are curious, give it a try! You can adjust the spiciness to your own liking. Let me know what your thoughts are, by adding @haricoco1 to your Instagram post, or write a comment down below. Enjoy!
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g green beans trimmed
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp chilli paste
- 1 onion chopped
- 1/2 tbsp garlic finely chopped
- a pinch of finely ground Sichuan pepper
- 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1/2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp fine brown sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- First make the sauce mixture by combining soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, water and the hot red pepper flakes. Set aside
- Add the oil to a hot wok, or pan
- Add the green beans and stir-fry them for approx. 3- 5 minutes, until they start to shrivel up.
- Add the chopped onion, and stir fry for another 2 – 3 minutes.
- Stir in the chilli paste and garlic, stir for about 1 minute.
- Add the sauce mixture and cook for 1 – 2 minutes, until the liquid is almost completely reduced.
- Sprinkle a pinch of Sichuan pepper.
- Serve with toasted sesame seeds on top, and some chopped parsley.
