A favorite recipe of mine for those long beans is Szechwan dry fried beans. Unlike those dry fried beans you find in restaurants, which are deep fried, then briefly stir fried in seasonings (good, but not the same), these are truly dried out, with a chewy texture, and a unique seasoning coating them.
The recipe is easily doubled, and I cook that in a 12" sauté pan. Freezes well, too.
Szechwan Dry Fried Beans
1½ lbs long beans or green beans
1/2" piece ginger
1/2 c dried shrimp, soaked in hot water at least 2 hours
1/2 c minced Szechwan preserved vegetable, about the size of an apricot, before mincing
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
3 tb+ 3 tb oil
Wash and trim the beans, and cut to 2" pieces. Easiest to mince the seasonings in a food processor - add the whole pieces of ginger and SPV and pulse to mince some. Drain the shrimp, and press the water out, and add to FP. Mince, with the vegetables, about 30 sec. Set aside.
In a 10" sauté pan, or 12" skillet, with a 10" base, heat the first 3 tb oil over high heat; add beans, and stir fry 2 min. Reduce heat to medium, and cook 7 minutes longer, stirring frequently. Remove to a plate and wipe out pan.
Heat the remaining 3 tb oil over high heat; add the minced mixture and SF 1 minute. Add sesame oil and sugar and SF another minute. Add beans, reduce heat to medium, and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to lowest, and cook 1½-2 hrs longer, stirring occasionally. Reheats well, and freezes well.
Needs no salt added, with all that shrimp, and SPV!
Here's two old photos I have of this:
First cooking of beans for Szechwan dry fried beans. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Finished dry fried beans, spread out to show the texture. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
