Chinese Green Beans With Pork
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 with rice
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 200g/7ozs. pork mince
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 400g/14ozs. green beans or snake beans, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- Red chilli, sliced
Step 1 - In a bowl mix the two soy sauces, Shaoxing cooking wine, sugar and ginger. Place the mince in a bowl and mix with salt, sugar and pepper and then tip half of the sauce into the pork and massage into the mince distributing it. Set aside.
Step 2 -Heat a wok or frypan on medium high heat. Add oil and fry the beans in two lots to keep them crisp and hot. Cook for 4-5 minutes until you get the texture that you like and sprinkle lightly with salt. You don't want these beans to be overly crisp or crunchy but really you do you with the texture of the beans (I usually just test one out to see if it's done). Remove from the pan.
Step 3 -Add a little more oil and fry the garlic for 30 seconds or so. Add the pork and fry making sure to break it up into small bits. Once the pork is cooked add the remaining sauce on top of the mince and saute for a minute until there's just a little bit of sauce left. Add the green beans back into the frypan and toss and then scoop onto a serving plate. Add extra chilli if desired.
Personal Note
Dear Reader I don't think we've caught up properly as so much has been going on. Don't you think it feels like much later in the year than the end of January? So I got my COVID booster in early January - we both got Moderna and Mr NQN got his a couple of weeks before mine. I was fine for the first 24 hours but then ended up feeling very tired after that (I realise everyone is different and I'm not giving medical advice, just sharing what happened with me). I also had very bad nasal congestion which made me wonder if I had actually contracted COVID somehow. The only reason I figured it wasn't COVID was that the next morning after 12 hours I was a different person and felt amazing (but still I used up a precious RAT test just in case).
When I was sick for that short period Mr NQN didn't know what to do. I would describe Mr NQN as a lone wolf who somehow got himself a wife. He doesn't quite know what people need or want and he isn't naturally a carer. Not one cup of tea was made or water brought nor did he ever offer to buy food or heat it up. I still had to get up and make lunch and dinner even though I just wanted to lie in bed. I was too tired to get cross with him but the next morning when I was feeling better I told him that he had to step up his game.
"You didn't even offer to make me a single cup of tea!" I exclaimed. He thought about it, probably remembering the cups of tea that I had brought him and the checking in on his wellbeing. I could see his mind working and turning around the memories. "Ok so cups of tea," he muttered to himself, perhaps inserting this card into the memory bank of what humans do under the file "Wolf wife". I think he felt a bit embarrassed by it, although whether this translates into actions next time I'm sick I'm not sure!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like Chinese green beans? Are you a natural carer?