Sichuan Style Long Green Beans

Long green beans is also called as Karamani in Tamil. We usually make curries with that for chapathi or rice. Our usual dry curries are with coconut and with dal (we call parupusli). We also make sambhar or gravy kind curries with the vegetable. I have made only our traditional curries with this vegetable. So when I saw this recipe for the #LNYCOOKOFF organized by Melissa's Produce, I wanted to give a try and we loved it. Of course I made changes to the recipe. I didn't have rice wine and also didn't add the brown sugar. I wanted a spicy one and in fact added a teaspoon of siracha paste (and a little bit more in my plate). I added tofu to have a balanced meal as I served with colored pepper fried rice. 

The original recipe called for coating the beans with corn starch and deep frying. I was not in the mood of deep-fried version and hence shallow fried them on a cast-iron pan for 3-5 minutes, till they became crisp. I coated the tofu with corn starch and shallow fried them like how I did the beans. You might like the Black Pepper Tofu too and these are vegan. I got su mi ya cai from Amazon which is preserved mustard greens. I added that in this recipe. If you don't have, you can make without it too.

This was very delicious. I served with fried rice and everything was empty in a jiffy. This version of beans had a great flavor and now I have few more ideas to try this beans in a few different fusion recipes. This is my second post for the #LNYCOOKOFF. I have already posted the Vegan Lo MeinNoodles. 

Serves 4

Long beans - 3 cups, cut to 1.5-in pieces

Tofu - 7 oz, (Pressed to remove the water), cut into small pieces

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Corn starch - 2tbsp plus 1 tsp

Oil - 1/3 cup

Hoisin sauce - 2 tbsp

Chili garlic sauce - 2 tbsp

Vegetarian oyster sauce - 2 tbsp

Siracha paste - 1 tsp

For the final sauté

Wash and dry the beans with a towel, chop them to 1 or 1.5 in long. Coat them with 2 tbsp corn starch. Heat 1/3 cup oil in a cast-iron pan and fry the beans in two batches, to crisp texture which would take around 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

Coat the tofu cubes with 1 tsp corn starch. In the remaining oil, fry the tofu cubes to crisp texture 3-4 minutes each side. Set aside.

Mix the sauces together and set aside. 

Heat the pan again and add 2 tbsp. When it is hot add the garlic, ginger, and the pickled greens. Sauté for about 30 seconds. Add the fried beans and tofu and Add the sauce. Stir-fry for a minute till everything is combined well. 

Serve immediately.