STIR FRIED GREEN BEANS

Ingredients for making the green beans

• 1 lb green beans washed, trimmed, and cut to half their length
• 6 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/2 -1 tsp salt
• vegetable oil for frying
• ice for water bath

Method of making

Blanch the Green Beans (optional)

• To preserve the color of the beans for the final dish you will want to blanch the beans. If you aren’t worried about the color you can skip this step. 
• In a large bowl, fill with ice and add water to the ice. Add water to your wok, enough to cover all the beans. Bring water in wok to a boil and add green beans. Cook for 30 seconds and immediately remove and put into the ice bath to stop the cooking process. 

Fry the Green Beans

• Remove water from wok if you blanched the green beans. Add a shallow amount of oil to the wok, about 1/4 inch deep. Once oil is hot, add green beans and fry for about 1 minute, or until the skin just starts to wrinkle. Careful to not over-fry or the beans will lose their crispness. 
• Remove green beans and put them on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up some of the oil. Drain all but 1 tbsp of the oil out of wok and place wok back on the stove.
• When wok is hot, add in garlic and cook on high heat until the aroma of garlic comes out and it begins to brown. Add green beans back in and stir fry with garlic. Season with salt. Cook until beans are cooked to desired done ness and have incorporated the garlic flavor (about 1-2 minutes). Eat while hot.

Healthier technique

• If you choose to, start by blanching the green beans as described in step 1 otherwise you can skip this step.
• Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok. Once heated, add green beans. Stir fry them for a few minutes at high heat.
• Add about 1/4 cup of water to the wok, cover it with lid, and steam the beans until they are almost cooked. Remove cover. Add about 3 tbsp of oil and continue cooking until beans start to wrinkle. 
• Remove beans and place on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil. Drain all but 1 tbsp of the oil out of the wok and place wok back on the stove. then repeat the above step to get the desired dish as per your liking.