Any ideas on how to cook fresh green beans like they serve in chinese buffets? Usually they seem to have a light oil and garlic on them but I need a step by step on how to do them. I end up over cooking and they are just not the same.
Cook them with a little bacon grease. Yummy!
This is pretty close to how I do them. Key notes: use high heat, and add the garlic in near the end.
Steaming also works well, though I don’t know if it would work the same to just drizzle the oil on afterwards.
I do love oven-roasted green beans in a little oil, tossed every few minutes, garlic added near the end, of course.
My Chinese cookbook advises high heat in oil then adding chicken stock to finish cooking to desired doneness. I add garlic at the end too along with a little soy sauce and sesame oil.
The ones I eat at the Chinese restaurant taste like they have some black bean paste added but I haven’t bothered at home myself. I don’t have enough use for a whole jar of it.
I’ve made them using a recipe from an out-of-print Szechuan cookbook - basically, you deep-fry them in the wok, a handful at a time. Sounds nasty, but if the oil temperature is right and you drain the beans well, it’s surprisingly non-greasy. Fry up a little garlic, salt and black bean paste to toss the beans in. Very tasty.
Well, it isn’t Chinese restaurant green beans (which I’m not sure I’ve ever had) but this is my grandmother’s Southern Green Beans recipe.
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Take a big pot, and chop up several slices of bacon.
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Heat the bacon in the pot until it is done.
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Add some onions… chopped.
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Toss a pound or so of green beans in the pot and add some chicken stock.
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Add some red pepper flakes…more is better than less. Also some salt and pepper.
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Let it cook a good long time.
That is pretty much what she told me and if you follow the directions exactly you will have some wonderful southern style green beans.
Fried, steamed, baked, or whatever - sprinkle a little Chinese sesame oil over the completed dish before serving.
These ideas all sound fantastic.
I’m a bit odd though. The only canned vegetable I like is green beans. I love canned green beans. I could eat them for a meal. In fact, we are doing steaks and baked potatoes tonight. I must look to see if I have a can of green beans.
Nooooooo!!!
Even frozen green beans are better than canned.
There are things that cry out for canned green beans. Macaroni and cheese. Tuna Noodle casserole. Anything kind of bland casserole, made with canned soup and topped with crumbs. Canned green beans are quite all right, on the side.
Yep, that’s pretty much the only way I really enjoy green beans. This recipe, in particular, but it does have a couple ingredients that may be a bit tricky to find if you don’t have an Asian grocery nearby. Still, you can take the basic techniques described within and adjust them to your tastes and ingredients you have available.
The main issue is that restaurant burners typically are hotter than the burners on home stoves. You need HIGH heat to get the same effect. My sister wok-fries fresh green beans with bits of bacon and soy sauce. Soooooo good.
I like to cut up some mushrooms, green/red/yellow peppers and mix it up with a can of Mexican corn and grill those together until it sweats a bit. I will use various spices for flavor. I’ll set that aside and wait for my freshly cut greenbeans to steam. Once they are done, I mix it all up and bam! Talk about flavor town. It’s nice too if you have extra because they do well as leftovers in the microwave with a little butter.
My granddaughter loves green beans, and my current favorite way to make them is to start by sautéing onions in a little butter, adding sliced mushrooms, then dumping in the fresh (or frozen) green beans. As the liquid cooks out of the mushrooms, I’ll add some oyster sauce and a splash or 3 of soy sauce, mix it all up, and cook till it’s all done. YUM!
Toss the fresh green beans in a tiny bit of sesame oil, then air fry.
Thanks for the idea and recipes! My husband doesnt like fresh green beans only canned! weirdo.