there’s just no way a home burner can get hot enough to produce restaurant-quality sichuan green beans. however, there is a way to produce restaurant-quality sichuan green beans using your oven broiler! all you need to do is broil your green beans until blistered and charred, then toss them in a flavourful aromatic paste consisting of garlic, ginger, chili paste, along with quintessential fermented black beans. so much flavour for so little work. a great side for any occasion - I could crunch on these any day.

*if you can’t find a gluten-free version of fermented black beans or black bean paste, you can substitute it with the same quantity of chopped black kalamata olives.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 tbsps. neutral oil with a high smoke point, like canola or avocado
4 garlic cloves, minced
1-inch ginger, minced or grated
3-4 dried arbol chilis (optional)
3 tbsps. gf fermented black soybean paste
1 tbsp. sambal oelek
1 lb. green beans, ends trimmed
1 tbsp. neutral oil with a high smoke point, like canola or avocado
salt
cilantro, chopped
sesame seeds, to garnish

Instructions

Adjust the top oven rack so that it is as close to the broiler element as it can get. Set oven to broil on high (~550 F).

In a small pan, heat oil on medium-low heat until shimmering. Add garlic, ginger, arbol chilis, black soybean paste, and sambal oelek and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, toss green beans in 1 tbsp. of oil and sprinkle with salt. Lay out green beans on a large parchment-lined sheet tray.

Broil green beans for approximately 5 minutes, until blistered and charred.

Transfer green beans into a large mixing bowl. Add the paste in batches and toss to combine until flavoured to your liking. Garnish with cilantro and sesame seeds and serve immediately.