Spicy Pork and Long Beans with Vermicelli (豆角粉絲炒豬肉, Dau6 Gok3 Fan2 Si1 Caau2 Zyu1 Juk6)

 

This recipe was update on 25 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I made this dish because I wanted to use up some remaining long beans and I wanted a dish with mung bean vermicelli. Long beans are a favorite vegetable of mine and differ from regular green beans in the most obvious way; they are really long in length. If you can’t find long beans at your favorite market, you can easily substitute regular green beans.

Mung bean vermicelli is also called bean thread noodles. The “noodles” (made from mung beans) are very thin and brittle when dry, and become transparent and soft after soaking in hot water. The dry version can actually be fried quickly in a wok, where it will puff up and then usually serves as the crispy base for another dish (you see this in Chinese restaurant dishes). After soaking in water, the soft vermicelli is added to a dish, where it soaks up and takes on the flavor of the sauce (so you’ll need to add more water or stock to get a sauce or gravy).

The natural additions for this dish are ground pork and dried shrimp. In this case, I used dried shrimp that are very small and added it to the pork before marinating. You need to add a good amount of these very small dried shrimps to make them noticeable in the dish. The next time I make this dish, I might use the medium sized dried shrimp so that their presence is obvious.

After I made this dish and took my first bite, I immediately noticed that the texture of the dish wasn’t right. I should have added black, cloud ear, or wood ear fungus to give the dish a distinct crunch. These funguses sounds like an odd ingredient, but are themselves tasteless. Both are dark in color and come fresh or dried, and either whole or already cut into strips. Black and wood ear funguses are available at your local Asian supermarket. I’ve added that ingredient to the recipe even though I didn’t use it in this version.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Ground pork (豬肉, zyu1 juk6)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
6 Tbs.	90 ml.	Dried shrimp (蝦米, haa1 mai5), rehydrated
4 oz.	113 g.	2 sticks dried mung bean vermicelli (粉絲, fan2 si1), rehydrated
1 lb.	500 g.	Long beans (豆角, dau6 gok3), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
10	10	Whole black or cloud fungus (雲耳, wan4 ji5) or wood ear fungus (木耳, muk6 ji5)
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces
3	3	Red Thai chili peppers (小米椒, siu2 mai5 ziu1), optional and to taste
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

½ cup	125 ml.	Dried shrimp rehydration liquid
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Fu Chi Foods brand Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Beans (湖南豆豉辣椒, wu4 naam4 dau6 si6 laat6 ziu1) or equivalent
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Black vinegar (黑米醋, hak1 mai5 cou3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Water

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Fu Chi Foods Brand
Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Beans
(湖南豆豉辣椒,
wu4 naam4 dau6 si6 laat6 ziu1)

Preparation Instructions

1. Marinate the ground pork in a covered container for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the ground pork overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried shrimp in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the shrimp for at least one hour. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the sauce. Discard any shrimp debris that might be at the bottom of the soaking bowl.
3. Pour boiling water over the dried mung bean vermicelli in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the vermicelli for at least one hour. Discard the rehydration liquid.
4. Wash and cut the long beans into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces.
5. If using dried black, cloud, or wood ear fungus, pour boiling water over the fungus in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the fungus for at least one hour. A little goes a long way, so don’t be deceived by the seemingly small amount. After hydration, the volume greatly expands. If using fresh black, cloud, or wood ear fungus, wash and separate the fungus, removing any stem pieces (which are hard and inedible). The whole fungus may be cut into smaller pieces if desired.
6. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
7. Wash and remove any stems from the Red Thai chili peppers. Cut the chili peppers into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces. The amount of red chili peppers to use in this dish depends upon personal taste and is optional, so feel free to reduce or increase the amount.
8. Wash and cut the green onions into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces.
9. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Fu Chi Foods brand Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Beans or equivalent, black vinegar, dried shrimp rehydration liquid, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. The amount of chili paste can be increased if a spicier sauce is desired. In another small bowl, prepare the corn starch slurry by mixing the corn starch and water together.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil. Add the ground pork pieces to the wok in a single layer on the bottom and brown the outside while breaking up any clumps that form. You may have to cook the ground pork in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the ground pork to a bowl.
2. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the dried shrimp. Stir fry the shrimp and then transfer them to the bowl with the ground pork.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the black, cloud, or wood ear fungus. Stir fry the fungus and then transfer them to the bowl with the ground pork.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the red chili peppers. Stir fry the chili peppers to brown them before adding the long beans to the wok. Stir fry the long beans to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Add the green onions, mung bean vermicelli, and the contents of the bowl with the ground pork back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together, being careful not to break up the vermicelli.
5. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and stir fry the ingredients together. The vermicelli will absorb whatever liquid is in the wok, so you may need to add more liquid to get the quantity of sauce you desire. Add the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce and mix all the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve with steamed rice.