ALLCAPS COOKBOOK Presents: Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans with Pork Belly and Toasted Walnut Dust (Patreon)

Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans with Pork Belly and Toasted Walnut Dust

Sichuan peppercorns, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: you taste like flowers and citrus only both are on fire and kind of mad at me. You are pretty and goldenish red! Also you come in giant bulk bags that are very satisfying to pour into jars.

That’s most of the ways.

This is actually a remarkably quick recipe to whip up, but looks fancy af and seems like you spent a long time on it, which let’s be honest, is pretty much what I’m looking for these days. LOOK impressive but don’t BE impressive amounts of work.

I’m tired, ok?

These are fairly spicy if you’re not used to spice, those peppercorns pack a punch. If you’re making this for kids or those who might not enjoy the extra wallop, cut the amount of peppercorns in half.

You could easily make it with almost any other kind of meat, just be aware that using the fat in place of oil, as I do here, won’t work with meats that don’t have a lot of fat to render. So if you use sliced beef or chicken breast, you’ll need 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to cook everything else in, etc.

Feel free also to toss in any other vegetables—traditionally this has pickled mustard greens in it, but I didn’t have any, and I live on an island and, you know. I’m tired. But almost any veggies would be great here. If you increase the bulk by too much, I would double up on the sauce to balance and make sure it all gets fully coated.

And don’t skip the walnuts! They really take it to another level. I served this over rice, but noodles would be fantastic as well.

Ingredients

Sauce:

2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon room temperature water

Stir fry:

1 pound of green beans, ends removed

6-8 oz pork belly, sliced thick

3 green onions

2 -3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon minced ginger

2 dried red chili peppers (I used bird’s eye)

1 teaspoon sichuan peppercorns, crushed but not pulverized

5-6 whole walnuts (or more!) toasted for 3-4 minutes at 375, then crushed with the handle of a knife or pulsed in food processor

Salt and pepper to taste

BEAN DAD AIN’T GOT NOTHING ON THESE BEANS

Combine sauce ingredients in small bowl and set aside.

Fry pork belly on medium in large skillet or wok until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Dry beans with paper towels until all moisture has been removed. Get them as dry as possible. Slice green onions into 1.5 inch pieces, separating the white ends from the green bits.

Heat pork fat (or vegetable oil if not using pork belly) to medium high and add all the green beans and white portions of green onions at once, shaking pan to avoid crowding. Season with salt and pepper (white pepper is great if you have it!) Fry beans, shaking pan from time to time, until skins are blistering, about 10 minutes. After 8 minutes or so, add the green onions, but be careful as these blacken fast. You don’t want ANY ingredient to blacken, just turn a rich dark brown. If the fat starts to smoke, lower the heat.

Turn heat down to medium-low. Remove beans and onions to a plate with a slotted spoon to retain the fat/oil. If the pan looks dry, add a little more vegetable oil. Increase heat back to medium and continue to monitor so that the fat doesn’t smoke and turn acrid. Add sichuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, and chilis to hot fat and allow to sizzle and release their fragrance, about a minute.

BE SUPER CAREFUL HERE. Each and every one of the aromatic ingredients you just added tastes like hot butt if it burns, so make sure it just BROWNS and the fat doesn’t get too hot.

Add green beans and pork belly back in, increase heat, give the sauce a swirl to mix in any sugar that settled on the bottom, and immediately pour sauce over everything. Stir-fry everything quickly to combine and coat, 1 minute or so, because we still don’t want to burn our aromatics. Turn off heat.

Serve over rice and sprinkle toasted walnut dust over the top.