Restaurant green beans, southern-style soy sauce green beans with potatoes

Yes, it's green beans two (not dissimilar) ways!

When I was in, idk, middle school or high school we started getting the occasional takeout from a sort of “asian fusion” noodle place. I don’t remember its name, I think I probably got teriyaki udon, but what I do remember, without any doubt, is how much I loved the green beans they made there.

The green beans they made there were so basic, and so good. They were probably one of the first vegetable dishes that I loved as a very picky child. They were super oily, quite salty, and had sesame seeds. I could eat an entire takeout container of them. They are not entirely dissimilar to the sichuan dry fried green beans that you find in a lot of Chinese restaurants, but they had much less going on, and were vegan.

Anyway, I accidentally recreated them not too long ago, and now I cannot be stopped. To continue with the theme of… green beans I’m including a second sensational green bean recipe, from Florence Lin’s Chinese Vegetarian Cookbook (an incredible book, highly recommend).

I bought a few old Chinese vegetarian cookbooks last year, because I am totally fixated on the fake meat that May Wah makes, and wanted to see if there were any recipes that I could find that approximate it (there aren’t, their technology is too good) but when I was reading through this book I saw a recipe that made me stop and write on the sticky note I was using to flag recipes “Southern style!” and they really are! If you have eaten southern (American) style green beans you know that they are soft and wet. They have been cooked to the ends of the earth. They are savory, because they have a ham hock or turkey something or other in them. These are savory, and soft, but faster (though still slow), and also vegan! I love these. Everyone loves these. I had a bowl of them in front of a friend at a dinner and she ate the whole thing, which I cannot fault her for, although I wish she had left some for me. They’re amazing. Don’t be tempted to leave out the potato, it might seem sort of unnecessary reading the recipe, but it is definitely there for a reason.

A few notes about the first recipe: sometimes recipes will say that the MSG is optional. In this case, it is not. I’m actually not a huge MSG diehard, because I think that sometimes it can make stuff taste a bit sweet and same-y if there’s too much of it, but in this case, the recipe needs it. The MSG gives the green beans the restaurant quality (even though so many restaurants, especially those sort of “Asian food for white people” restaurants, like the one where I first had this dish, advertise not using MSG) and I think helps make up for the fact that home kitchens don’t get that super high heat.

Light soy sauce in this context does not mean “low sodium soy sauce,” I use Pearl River Bridge, but I’m sure that Kikkoman would do you fine. I have never written a recipe that uses low sodium soy sauce, and I never will. Maybe it’s okay, I will not be finding out.

Finally: make this with canola oil at your own peril. It will smell so fishy and weird. Peanut oil, or avocado oil, work well.

Restaurant green beans

Ingredients

• 13 oz green beans (after having trimmed them)

• a few tablespoons (? I use a squeeze bottle and didn’t measure it.) peanut oil (or another oil that doesn’t get gross at high heat. I hate canola for high heat cooking)

• 1 scant tbs light soy sauce

• 2.5 tablespoons (or three scant) water

• 3/4 teaspoon sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon MSG

• Toasted sesame seeds

First, wash your green beans, and then go to therapy, and then watch a TV show, and then feed and walk the dog. (Or you can just towel them off, but you do want them the be dry, that’s the salient point.)

Mix everything but the beans and oil (soy sauce, water, sugar, MSG) and set it aside. Turn on your fan, and open your window to be safe. Get out your wok and heat it as high as you possibly can. It should be smoking vigorously, you should think “oh, I should turn this down.”

Once it has been heated thoroughly, put some oil in, at least a tablespoon, maybe a bit more, I use a squeeze bottle, highly recommend it. Move it about in the pan so the sides are oily. Then add your (dry) green beans (if they are wet, you will get burned, and they won’t char as well). Toss so they are all oiled up. Let sit for maybe 20 seconds, and then toss. Repeat for a few minutes, until the beans are charred. (The timing isn’t exact, but like, you want to move them enough that they all get some char, but also let them sit long enough that they do.) The important thing is to burn your green beans as much as possible, while not letting them get really overcooked.

Once the beans have all charred, add the sauce and turn down the heat a bit. Cook, tossing regularly, until the sauce has cooked off, which should happen quite fast. Add some sesame seeds, toss. Eat.

Southern style soy sauce green beans with potatoes

From Florence Lin’s Chinese Vegetarian Cookbook

• 1 pound of fresh green beans (or 2 9 oz packages of frozen green beans)

• 3 tablespoons peanut or corn oil

• 2 medium potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/2 tablespoon sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Preparation and cooking:

Snap off and discard the ends of the fresh green beans. Break into two inch pieces. Wash and drain. If using frozen green beans thaw and rain well. Heat a saucepan and add the oil. Stir-fry the beans for two minutes, then add the potatoes and stir fry for two more minutes. Add the water, sugar, salt, and soy sauce. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, and cook covered for about 30 minutes, or until the green beans and potatoes are tender and soft. Shake the pan a few times so the vegetables to not stick, but very little liquid should remain.

NB: I find it is best to cook it with a lid a tad cracked. I like to use russets for this dish, because I think the grainyness like… works. idk.