Community Pick
Chinese Restaurant-Style Green Beans
"Delicious and spicy green beans, just like your favorite Chinese restaurant. Be careful with the sesame oil, or it can overpower your beans. Prep time includes steaming the beans."
photo by limeandspoontt
- Ready In:
- 17mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 1 lb fresh green beans
- vegetable oil cooking spray or 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 teaspoon gingerroot, peeled, minced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1⁄2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
directions
- Wash beans, trim ends and remove strings.
- Arrange beans in a vegetable steamer (or a colander that will sit nicely in saucepan), and place over boiling water.
- Cover and steam 5 minutes.
- Drain and plunge into cold water, drain again.
- Coat a large nonstick skillet (or wok) with cooking spray or peanut oil and heat until hot.
- Add gingerroot and garlic and saute 30 secs.
- Add beans, saute 5 minutes.
- Combine 2 tablespoons water and remaining 5 ingredients.
- Stir well.
- Add to beans, cook 30 seconds or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.
Questions & Replies
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Can frozen green beans be substituted for fresh? And can I use olive oil?
Reviews
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very good. Simple, spicy, quick. Thanks! -
My favourite dish at the vegan restaurant near my office is their 'Spicy Garlic Green Beans' and I have clearly spent way too much time and effort trying to recreate it, since the recipe has been here for years now! To fully recreate their dish, I added a few more garlic cloves, added fried tofu slices to the skillet when I added the beans, and doubled the sauce to account for the amount that the tofu would absorb. It turned out exactly like theirs! Served it over brown rice and was a happy camper all night! Thanks so much! -
This is a WONDERFUL Chinese Green Bean recipe! I am so glad I found this. I made it exactly as you stated using a wok instead of a skillet. The ingredients are a perfect blend for the beans. Everyone raved and asked for the recipe. Thank you so much, BoxO'Wine for sharing this. -
Let me join the rave reviews! This was awesome and SO easy. I could not locate my steamer so I just cooked them until barely crisp tender IN the water. The ginger at the store was not up to pare so I subbed groun ginger and had half a small onion leftover so I added that with the beans to the wok. A splash of dry sherry in the sauce ingredients (which I doubled) added a nice finish. I served these with grilled steaks and baked potatoes...a perfect spring time dinner. I could make a meal off of these alone! -
Very tasty, very fast, very easy. Good to have everything ready to go and everyone ready to eat, because it's best the minute it comes off the stove. Thanks.
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Tweaks
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I shocked the green beans in ice water after steaming to lock color. After the garlic and ginger were sauteed for about 30 seconds, I added the green beans and let tham hang out for about 3 minutes, then added the rest of the ingredients and stirred it all together for a few minutes.
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Far less red pepper, a bit more soy and Splenda brown sugar
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Don't limit yourself to using this sauce only with green beans because it is SOOOO delicious. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe exactly as written. YUM! The second and every time since, even though the original recipe is exceptional, I did make a few small changes: I stopped measuring the ingredients. There's really no need to because you can't mess this up. Then I like, tripled the garlic and doubled the ginger. (If the thought of using ginger root in this scares you, no worries! It truly adds balance, so definitely do not skip it.) I use a very low sodium soy sauce, so I decided to cut back on the water - no more than a 1/2 splash - which gave it the ideal amount of 'salty.' I also added a teaspoon (or two) of Worcestershire sauce and I used Stevia instead of brown sugar. Lastly, I used way less than a teaspoon of cornstarch, because I like my sauce on the thinner side, especially if I'm going to have leftovers. (My personal experience with cornstarch used in this capacity has been bad - it isn't very cooperative when it comes to reheating - it gets so clumpy and gelatinous. Yuck!) Anyway, I think I love this sauce so much because it tastes exactly like the Mongolian sauce the chef at my favorite Hibachi Grill adds to my veggies. Many thanks to BoxO'Wine for sharing.
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Delicious and easy. I used a can of green beans and a can of asparagus instead of the fresh green beans, so I started at step 5 of the recipe. Thanks for sharing! -
I used sugar snap peas instead of green beans for this recipe, I promise you they were wonderful!! A simple quick and zippy side dish that was a BIG hit! Thanks for a wonderful variation that we'll use often!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
BoxOWine
United States
Update: My mother, BoxO'Wine passed away on April 23, 2009 after a 2 year battle with pancreatic cancer. She was a wonderful cook and is greatly missed. I am the DD that she has mentioned here quite frequently and have decided to continue her account. I also use RecipeZaar quite frequently as I learned about it from her. I strive to make her recipes; however, they will never be the same. I am also leaving all her own biographical information in here that she had.
Genuine Jersey Girl here. Lived here all my life with the exception of a short stint in the Bay Area/San Francisco. Married to the same guy for over 40 years. We have 3 children and 5 grandchildren. My son lives in Georgia (he talks funny) and my two daughters live near me in New Jersey. I am a retired politician, but I still have a real job. Looking forward to full retirement in about 2 yrs or so and if my children don't force me into the "home" I will be spending my social security checks in Atlantic City casinos. I have chemically enhanced blonde hair which is currently spiked to match my weird sense of humor and beverage du jour. Obviously I am a wino. White please, preferably chardonnay.
