Sichuan dry-fried green beans

What is ‘dry frying’?

In Sichuan cuisine it is a common method of cooking meat and vegetables, but contrary to expectations, it doesn’t mean frying in a dry wok. In fact, dry-fried beans or meat are often deep fried in oil.

The dryness refers to cooking the foodstuff without a marinade, velveting or any coating of breadcrumbs or batter. It also describes the outcome: beans or meat come out with a crispy, blistered or charred, dry appearance.

Are dry-fried beans vegetarian?

Dry-fried green beans are an iconic Sichuan dish, hugely delicious and more than a little confusing. First of all, you would be completely wrong thinking it’s a vegetarian classic or a plant-only side. It can be, but most often dry-fried green beans are cooked with minced pork.

The amount isn’t huge and beans are still the main player, but the meat adds umami – and protein, of course – to the dish. Even healthier is my own version here, with leaner turkey mince which tends to be bland but in the Sichuan environment it takes on depth and dimensions.

For the vegetarian option you can simply omit it or substitute with diced tofu.

Aromatics in dry-fried beans

Sichuan peppercorns are the funky, slightly citrusy, hot, numbing and tingling spice very much representative of Sichuan ‘mala’ (numbing and spicy) flavours. They are not a variety of and not related to black or white pepper. They are tiny fruits of prickly ash tree left out to dry out after picking.

Counterintuitively, it is the reddish husk that is edible and any black seeds that you find in the jar need to be discarded.

Apart from Sichuan peppercorns, there is garlic and ginger in the mix, dried bird’s eye chillies, and Chinese preserved vegetables, zha cai. Those are available from online suppliers, but I thought it would be useful to offer a version with western substitutes. Instead of those pickles, I use capers and finely chopped gherkins. And if you have sauerkraut in your fridge, a handful of it, drained and chopped, will work very well too.

How to prepare the green beans?

I could argue that grilling is the ultimate ‘dry frying’ but its main advantage in this instance is that it gets the job of blistering the beans done quickly, efficiently and with only a miniscule amount of oil.

It is such a good method in fact that I very often cook beans like this just for a side dish, without any Asian sauces or flavours. Within minutes they cook through, char and blister on the outside and taste divine.

In line with the dry frying principle, the beans are only brushed with oil and seasoned with salt, then grilled for about five minutes.

In the meantime the meat/sauce/aromatics are prepared in a wok.

How to cook meat and aromatics for dry-fried beans

If you don’t have a wok, you can easily use a frying or sauté pan. This is not a dish that requires super-high heat and wok hei, as long as your pan gets hot enough to fry rather than stew the turkey mince.

Whether you use the authentic pickled vegetables or any of the substitutions suggested above, they join the cooked mince in the wok or pan, together with ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and shreds of dried chillies.

Toss everything a couple of times, then add the beans and drizzle the sauce around – which won’t make it all ‘wet’ in case you were worried about losing the dry-fried factor, but will get absorbed in seconds.

It is classically a side dish but both at home as well as in my favourite local Chinese restaurant I have them as a main, with just plain rice.

More Sichuan style recipes

Chicken yu xiang, chicken breast pieces cooked in Sichuan ‘fragrant fish’ sauce which has seafood only in the name. With addition of dried cranberries for the sweetness and almonds for crunch.

Crispy fried minced pork with noodles or called 'ants climbing a tree' in Sichuan cuisine. Traditionally glass vermicelli, my recipe is for egg noodles, so the poor ants have more traction!

Kung pao, or gong bao chicken recipe, chicken and peanut stir fry with thick and spicy sauce. Authentic taste of a good kung pao chicken takeaway made at home, with the spiciness from chilies and Sichuan peppercorns.

More green bean recipes

Green bean casserole is so good when homemade and cooked from scratch! Creamy mushroom sauce is easy to make, while blanching then drying fresh green beans stops them from being soggy.

Green beans with Parmesan cream – a creamy casserole of green beans in cheese sauce. The Parmesan cream is easier to make than thermidor or mornay sauce and can easily replace either in a variety of dishes.

Bulgur wheat salad with spicy chorizo and vibrant green runner beans. Lunch or dinner, just add a dollop of yoghurt, fresh mint and dill for perfect Middle Eastern – Spanish fusion.