A staple in any Chinese kitchen, garlic has been used for over 5,000 years and is known to have medicinal purposes. Mainly used within stir fries, it is normally chopped or sliced finely to ensure taste is throughout the dish. A favour from which there is no escape, it can taste both hot and very sweet depending on how you cook it. It is so addictive I can’t live without it! A dish very popular dish with foreigners heavily featuring garlic is Sautéed Garlic Green Beans (干煸四季豆), or Sichuan Style Fried Beans. I have never seen this dish anywhere else on a takeaway menu, but you can find it in pretty much every restaurant in China and it simply tastes amazing! 

Serves: 2
Method: Stir Fry
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: 3/10

INGREDIENTS

1. 200 grams (2 handfuls) green beans; trimmed at both ends
2. 2 tbsp of cooking oil (any oil apart from sesame is fne)
3. 3 garlic cloves chopped
4. 1 tbsp light soy sauce
5. 1 tbsp honey

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DIRECTIONS

1. To start with, DON’T BOIL THE BEANS IN WATER! When I tried it this way, the beans turned out to be waterlogged and lost all of their texture and favour. It was pretty disgusting. So, get a wok, turn on the stove on a medium heat, pour in the oil and wait until it is hot enough; you will know when it appears to resemble water and it coats the bottom of the pan when you move it around. Then put in the beans and add a pinch of salt. Lightly toss the beans and turn them every once in a while. Don’t be afraid if the beans start to colour. That’s what you want to happen! They should turn slightly brown, shrink a little and become tender. I found that leaving the beans to cook for around 8 minutes tenderised them enough. Any longer and they turned to mush! 
2. When the beans are tender, turn the heat to low, add the garlic and stir regularly. You do not want the garlic to brown! Watch carefully and keep cooking until the garlic has softened and is beautifully fragrant.
3. Add the soy sauce and honey. Gently cook until the soy and honey have reduced. It should take on a glaze like consistency and coat the beans. 

How easy was that? You can add chillies if you want some heat, but I must say, I found cooking this dish extremely easy from start to finish. It was stress-free cooking and tasted very similar to the green beans I eat in Chinese restaurants; a great end result!