This is one of our favorite recipes and a great way to use fresh green beans. You can cook the green beans until quite soft or just blister them a bit and leave them more crunchy. We like them somewhere in the middle. Other versions of this recipe call for mushrooms which would be a great addition.
I didn’t have any photos of when we’ve made this dish, so the above is a stock photo that approximately replicates what you’re going for. Below, the asterisk (*) denotes ingredients we currently have at Harvey’s.
1/2 cup soy sauce*
1/4 cup tablespoons mirin*
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar*
2 teaspoon cornstarch*
1 teaspoon ground white pepper*
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes*
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup high-heat cooking fat such as tallow, avocado oil, or sesame oil*
1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces*
1 pound ground pork*
3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 scallions, sliced thin
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, optional*
1 teaspoon black or white sesame seeds*
2 cups rice of your choice, cooked
Whisk the soy sauce, mirin, sugar, cornstarch, pepper, pepper flakes, dry mustard, and water together until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons cooking fat in 12-inch cast iron skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add half of beans and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender and skins are shriveled and blackened in spots, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove cooked beans to a bowl and repeat with the remaining two tablespoons fat and green beans.
Reduce heat to medium-high and add pork to now-empty skillet. Cook, breaking pork into small pieces, until no pink remains. Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, 20-30 seconds. Return cooked beans to the pan, then re-whisk sauce and toss with beans and meat. Stir in scallions and sesame oil. Simmer for a few minutes for the sauce to thicken, then serve in bowls over cooked rice.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for a bit of a crunch and a lot of beauty!