FOOD NEWS
Blister Your Green Beans For A Richer, More Delicious Side Dish
BY TOM MAXWELL
Blistering green beans adds a crisp, toothsome texture and a deep nuttiness to the unassuming green vegetable. To cook them this way, you only need a skillet full of hot oil.
Put trimmed, washed, and dried green beans in a skillet or wok with about a quarter cup of hot fat or oil, preheated over medium-high heat.
Use an oil with a high smoke point. Olive oil can work if you heat it up slowly and keep the temperature lower, while butter also works, but cooks the beans much more slowly.
Cook the beans until they darken and shrivel, and their surfaces split and blister. Their natural sugars will caramelize, yielding a deep, earthy sweetness and browned savoriness.
You can simply salt the beans or flavor them with garlic, red pepper flakes, and capers. You can also use this technique for Sichuan dry-fried green beans, AKA gan bian si ji dou.