Spicy Ginger Garlic Green Beans

The Official Recipe
Spicy Ginger Garlic Green Beans
1 lb thin green beans
1 tbs. vegetable oil
1 tbs. minced garlic
1 tbs. chopped ginger
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

sauce:
2 tbs. black vinegar or rice vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. crushed red chile
1/2 tsp. black sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper

Now that I have given you the actual recipe I will tell you what I really used. I used green beans off of the climbing plant I have growing up our trellis (not thin), I used olive oil and just turned the temperature down a bit so it wouldn't burn, I did not use sesame seeds, I used rice vinegar, I used crushed red pepper and chile powder, I did not use black sesame oil, I added some lemon zest and juice and I used black pepper. Oh, and I didn't measure anything... and the surprising news! Matt and I both loved this recipe (even if it was a little hot for Matt).

This was one of those times when I knew I had the green beans and wanted to use them before they went bad so I looked to my cookbook shelf. I don't know why I choose to look into "The Spicy Food Lover's Bible" by Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach but I did and this was one of two green bean recipes (the other being a canning recipe). I noticed we had all of the right ingredients (well, within reason) so I decided to try it. The blurb before the recipe says that it can be made without the black sesame oil but that it adds a nice complexity to the flavors-- I am  not one for buying expensive ingredients that I don't think I will use again soon for a single recipe- so I just left it out. As for the other substitutions I made, well, it was either what I had available (or in the case of the oil- what I had within arms reach vs. in the pantry 5 steps away).

The Official Process:
1. Combine all sauce ingredients in small dish and set aside.
2. Steam green beans until almost done. Remove and drain. If finishing later run under cold water.
3. Heat oil in wok (I used the same sauce pan I steamed the beans in) add garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 2 minutes, add green beans and stir-fry until nearly done.
4. Add sauce to wok and stir fry until the sauce has thickened and coats the beans.
5. Place beans on serving plate ad garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
SERVES 4

I estimated on the sauce ingredients and left them in a small bowl on the counter.
Then I steamed the beans, took our the steamer basket, dumped the water and set the beans in steamer basket aside.
I added the (olive) oil to the sauce pan and when it was hot I dumped in the garlic and ginger (which I used a grater to prepare). When it was super fragrant I added the green beans (oh and I added some hot pepper flakes because my favorite quick tomato sauce recipe does that).
In just a couple of minutes (because the beans were already steamed) I added the sauce and as soon as it thickened a little I took the beans off the heat and served it directly in the sauce pan! How tacky I know, but when you live with no dishwasher...

I really enjoyed this recipe and we will be having it again. It was an interesting mix of sweet because of the sugar (and I always think ginger has a sweet "during" taste and a spicy "after" taste) and spicy. The rice vinegar in the sauce provided a nice tartness without being overly bitter or acidic tasting.

Next time I will definitely steam the beans for less time- just a minute or two- so that I can stir-fry them for longer to let the sauce thicken more. The beans were not overcooked this time but the sauce also wasn't overly thick...

Overall, a quite successful side dish that took about 10 minutes!

In case you were wondering, with this green bean dish we had store bought lemon pepper rotisserie chicken with a homemade piccata style lemon-white wine sauce, fresh bread and homemade spicy garlic-herb butter. A truly "semi-homemade" meal!