Burmese wok-fried green beans

This is a very traditional Burmese recipe made super fast in a searing hot wok. These beans are absolutely wonderful, and take less than 5 minutes to make.

The trick to making these beans is to fry them very hot so the outsides are charred but the insides of the beans still maintain their crunch. The combination of charred but crunchy is the magic formula. This is a simple recipe and you can leave out the shrimp for a vegan and vegetarian version of the recipe. The crunchy beans have a charred and salty flavor from the soy sauce, simple and yet so delicious.

This book is a recent purchase and one that I am enjoying reading and cooking from. The famed Rangoon sisters, Amy and Emily, have become famous in London for their brillaint Burmese cuisine and pop-up style restarant cooking. This cookbook is a collection of wonderful recipes and I am definitely cooking from here often.

For more recipes from this wonderful cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon peanut oil or other oil

1-2 dried shrimp (optional)

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

4-5 oz. green beans, the ends trimmed and left whole

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Heat a wok with the oil till shimmering and add the dried shrimp, if using and garlic. Stir-fry for 10 seconds and add the green beans. Toss the beans well and sear on high heat till the beans are charred on the outside in spots. You want to cook on high heat to the outside chars and the inside of the beans are still crunchy for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the soy sauce and toss well. Careful it will splatter. The soy sauce will adhere to the hot beans and dry out in about 10 seconds. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.