I recently went to Mitsuwa Market in San Diego in search of many of the items on the 100,000 foods to eat before you die. One of the ingredients was Chinese Long Beans. While I had eaten these before, they were an ingredient that I had never prepared. While I was preparing it, I took a call and the pork cooked for longer than needed so the soy sauce caramelized a bit. I loved that part most. Go ahead and leave this one longer on the heat and take a call. It only improves the flavor. There are also plenty of recipes for this where the long beans are dry cooked but I liked them just fine this way. I served this over buckwheat noodles just because I had it but rice would be just fine.
Chinese Long Beans with Ground Pork
Ingredients:
11b ground pork
2 teaspoons soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger (or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger)
1 pound long beans, cut into 3-inch lengths
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 bunch green beans, finely chopped
6 ounces of sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
Freshly ground pepper
Directions:
Combine the pork with the soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Set aside.
In a large pot of boiling water, add 1 teaspoon salt. Add the beans and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and rinse with cool water.
In a wok (or a large nonstick skillet) heat the sesame oil and add the pork. Cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes, breaking up the clumps with a spoon. Add the green beans and mushrooms and continue cooking until the pork is cooked through.
Add the green beans and vinegar to the pork mixture and reheat the beans.
Season with pepper (and additional salt or soy if wanted).