Long Beans With Garlic Ginger And Black Bean Sauce Recipes

CHINESE BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Steps:

• Rinse black beans thoroughly and dry. Remove about 1/4 cup and set aside. Roughly chop the rest of the beans.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add chiles, shallot, ginger, and garlic. Fry until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Do not let the ingredients burn. Reduce the heat if necessary. The objective is to slow cook the ingredients. Add all the beans; both chopped and whole. Simmer, stirring often, until the beans are soft, about 2 minutes. Add tamari, rice wine, brown sugar, ground Sichuan pepper, and five spice. Simmer until thickened, stirring often. Remove from heat; let cool, about 10 minutes.
• Mix in sesame oil and cover. As the sauce rests, the beans will settle and the oil will float, creating a barrier which will protect it from mold. The sauce is ready to use or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

SPICY SHRIMP WITH GINGER-GARLIC LONG BEANS

Steps:

• In a non-reactive medium bowl, combine the shrimp, mirin, soy sauce, scallion, and red pepper flakes. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours.
• Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sesame oil and then the garlic and ginger, and cook, stirring, until the garlic begins to color, about 10 seconds. Add the beans and stir quickly to coat with the garlic and ginger. Continue to cook, stirring, until the beans start to turn bright green, 1 to 2 minutes. (If the garlic starts to burn, remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir quickly.)
• Add the shrimp and the marinade (the liquid hitting the hot pan will create steam, so be careful). Cook, stirring constantly, until the juices have reduced and thickened slightly and the shrimp are pink and curled, an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

LONG BEANS WITH GARLIC, GINGER AND BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Steps:

• As for all stir frying, have your ingredients assembled and prepped before you begin cooking. Get your wok hot, add enough sesame or canola to create a thin film on the bottom and sides. Toss in the long beans, garlic and ginger and stir fry for about three minutes. Add the mirin, black bean sauce, soy sauce and water. Cover and steam two minutes. Uncover and add the optional ingredients, if used. Taste and adjust seasonings, and stir fry an additional minute or until the long beans reach the degree of doneness you prefer. Serve immediately, garnished with toasted sesame seeds if you like. Serves four.

HOW TO MAKE BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Steps:

• Soak 1 C (227 g) of dried fermented black beans in water for 10 minutes. Open a package of dried fermented black beans and pour 1 cup (227 g) of them into a bowl. Add enough water to submerge the beans and set them aside for 10 minutes to soak. Soaking the beans makes them easier to chop and it rinses off some of the beans' salt. You can buy dried fermented black beans at your neighborhood Asian market or online. Fermenting the beans gives them their unique flavor that's full of umami. Fermented black beans are also saltier than standard dried black beans.
• Drain the beans and roughly chop them on a cutting board. Set a fine-mesh strainer or colander into the sink and pour the soaked beans into it. Then, put the beans onto a cutting board and chop them until they're slightly chunky. If you'd like a smoother sauce, keep chopping until the beans are finely chopped. Set the beans aside. To save a little time, you can put the beans into a food processor along with 1/4 of an onion and 8 to 10 cloves of peeled garlic. Then, pulse the ingredients until they're roughly chopped.
• Infuse oil with dried chili peppers over medium heat. Set a heavy saucepan on the stove and pour in 1⁄3 cup (79 ml) of vegetable oil. Add 4 to 6 roughly chopped dried chili peppers and turn the burner to medium. Once the oil shimmers, turn the burner down to medium-low and heat the chilies until they darken. Then, carefully scoop out the chilies with a slotted spoon and throw them away. Use Korean or Mexican dried chili peppers to give the sauce mild flavor or cook Chinese or Thai chili peppers if you'd like the sauce to be spicy. For really spicy black bean sauce, add 2 teaspoons (6 g) of whole Sichuan peppercorns along with the dried chilies.
• Mince 1/4 of an onion and add it to the skillet along with the beans. Cut a 1/4 of an onion into fine pieces and put it into the hot oil in the saucepan. Then, add the drained black beans and stir the mixture. If you chopped the beans with the onion and garlic in a food processor, just add all of them to the oil at this point.
• Cook the black bean sauce over medium heat. Turn the burner up to medium and stir the beans in the aromatic oil constantly. Cook the beans until they're fragrant and they start to sizzle. The oil may splatter a little, so you may want to wear oven mitts while you stir the beans.
• Add wine, soy sauce, sugar, and simmer the sauce for 10 minutes. Stir in 1⁄4 cup (59 ml) of Shaoxing wine, 1⁄4 cup (59 ml) of soy or tamari sauce, and 1/4 cup (50 g) of granulated or brown sugar. Then, cook the gently bubbling sauce over medium-low heat until the onion softens. Stir the sauce constantly to prevent it from burning. If you can't find Shaoxing wine, use the same amount of dry sherry or Japanese sake. You could even substitute chicken broth, but the black bean sauce won't keep as long in the fridge. For a slight citrus flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) of orange zest to the sauce.
• Stir in garlic and ginger, and cook the sauce until it's fragrant. Add 8 to 10 cloves of minced garlic to the saucepan along with 1 inch (2.5 cm) of minced fresh ginger. Keep stirring the sauce and cook it over medium heat so the garlic and ginger soften. If you don't like the flavor of ginger or garlic, feel free to leave them out of the sauce.
• Transfer the sauce to a storage container to cool before you use it. Turn off the burner and spoon the black bean sauce into a glass storage container or bowl. Leave it to cool completely before you cook with the sauce or store it for later. Put a lid or plastic wrap over the container and store the sauce in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

STIR-FRIED CLAMS IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Steps:

• Before you do anything, make sure that your clams are washed thoroughly. There's nothing more unpleasant than finding sand in your food. When your ingredients have been prepared and you're ready to cook, heat the oil in your wok over high heat. Add the ginger and allow it to caramelize (about 20 seconds), taking care not to burn it.
• Next, add the garlic, scallion, peppers and fermented black beans, and stir fry the mixture for about 10 seconds. Add the clams. Pour the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok, and immediately cover the wok. Cook until the clams begin to open. At this point, the liquid in the wok should be boiling and generating steam when the wok is covered. The time for the clams to cook and open up depends upon the size and type of the clams you are using and how hot you can get your stove. Once a good number of them have opened, remove the cover and give everything a stir.
• Stir in the sugar, sesame oil, pepper. Discard any of the clams that didn't open. Now taste the sauce. If it's not salty enough, you can add a little bit of soy sauce. Once your satisfied with the flavor of the sauce, add about half of the corn starch slurry to the liquid in the wok and stir. Add more slurry if needed to further thicken the sauce.
• Stir in the chopped cilantro and gently stir the mixture so the sauce coats the clams.
• Serve immediately.