Aubergine and green bean stir-fry with garlic
Written by Estelle & Alice for The Wok House
If the aubergine and beans go into the wok together, the aubergine soaks up the oil and the beans steam without ever blistering. So I fry each in turn: the beans first, until their skins wrinkle, then the aubergine in the oil they leave behind, until its edges turn golden. The garlic, ginger and chilli only go in at the end, just before the soy sauce.
This stir-fry is an everyday Chinese dish, the kind you put in the middle of the table with plain rice. The usual version uses oyster sauce; here a vegetarian mushroom sauce replaces it, and the dish becomes vegetarian. Two things make it work: beans that are completely dry before they touch the oil, and batches small enough for every piece to touch the hot metal. With the rice, these quantities make a main course for 4 people, or a side dish for 8.
Aubergine and green bean stir-fry with garlic
Green beans and aubergine sticks fried in a shallow layer of oil, then stir-fried with garlic, ginger and chilli, soy sauce and a vegetarian mushroom sauce.
For 3 or 4 people, use a 32cm wok and allow two batches of each vegetable. In a single layer they brown; piled up, they steam and stay soft.
Ingredients
For the vegetables
Aromatics and sauce
To cook and serve
Equipment
- 32 to 38cm wok, flat-bottomed on induction or ceramic hobs
- Slotted spoon or spider strainer
- Wok spatula
- Kitchen paper
- Clean tea towel
- Saucepan or rice cooker
- Small bowl
Method
Start the rice
Rinse 300g jasmine rice until the water stays almost clear, then put it on to cook. Once it's done, it waits under its lid, off the heat, until the vegetables are ready.
Prepare the beans
Wash 400g green beans, trim the stalk ends and cut them into 5 to 7cm lengths. Dry them thoroughly in a clean tea towel: water makes hot oil spit, and wet beans steam instead of blistering.
Cut the aubergines
Cut 500g aubergines into 5cm lengths, then into sticks about 1cm thick, keeping the skin on: it holds the flesh together as it cooks. With a regular aubergine, first cut each length into quarters lengthways and remove the seedy core, which is spongier.
Aromatics and sauce
Peel 15g ginger and cut it into fine julienne. Crush the garlic cloves with the flat of the knife, then chop them roughly. Deseed the chilli and slice it on the diagonal into thin strips. In a small bowl, mix 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp mushroom sauce and ¼ tsp white pepper.
Fry the beans
Heat the wok over a medium heat. Fry the beans in 2 batches: for each batch, add 2 tablespoons of oil, add the beans in one layer and stir them now and then in this shallow oil. Allow 6 to 8 minutes, until the skins wrinkle and blister in places. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil in the wok, and set them aside on kitchen paper.
Brown the aubergines
Turn the heat up a notch. Brown the aubergines in 2 batches in the oil left by the beans, adding 1 tablespoon of oil for each batch. Spread out the sticks, leave them for 1 minute without touching them, then stir now and then for 4 to 5 minutes. They're ready when the edges are golden and the flesh gives under the spatula. Lift them out with the slotted spoon and set them aside with the beans.
The aromatics
Turn the heat down to medium and add 1 tbsp oil. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and stir-fry for 1 minute: the garlic should turn pale golden without browning.
Bring it together
Turn the heat up to high and put the beans and aubergines back in the wok. Pour the bowl of sauce down the side of the wok, where it sizzles, then stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, lifting the vegetables with the spatula, until no sauce runs in the bottom of the wok and the vegetables are glossy.
Taste and serve
Taste a bean and add salt if needed: the soy sauce and mushroom sauce already season the dish. Serve straight away, piping hot, with the rice.
Wok tips
- Beans that sizzle as soon as they hit the oil blister in a few minutes. If they stay quiet and release water into the bottom of the wok, they were wet or there were too many: take some out and let the oil get its heat back.
- On induction, the heat doesn't rise up the sides. Use a flat-bottomed wok, like our induction woks, sitting flat on the hob, and keep bringing the vegetables back from the edges to the centre, where the hot oil collects.
- In a stainless steel wok, heat the metal empty before the first batch: a drop of water should roll across it like a bead instead of spreading. Wipe it off, add the oil, then leave each batch of aubergine for a minute without touching it; once golden, the sticks come away on their own. In a carbon steel wok, good seasoning is what stops them sticking.
- After the batches, the wok is very hot. Turn the heat down before the aromatics, otherwise the garlic browns in a few seconds and turns bitter, and only turn it back up to high when the vegetables go back in.
Variations
- Sichuan style (yu xiang), for 4 people: stir-fry 1 tablespoon of doubanjiang (chilli bean paste) with the aromatics, and add 1 tablespoon of Chinkiang black vinegar and 2 teaspoons of sugar to the bowl of sauce. Cut the soy sauce down to 2 tablespoons, as doubanjiang is very salty. Without doubanjiang, 1 teaspoon of sambal oelek gives the heat, without the fermented bean flavour; without black vinegar, use the same amount of balsamic vinegar.
- With pork, for 4 people: before the aromatics, stir-fry 150g pork mince over a high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until browned and dry, then add the ginger, garlic and chilli. The dish is no longer vegetarian, so use oyster sauce instead, in the same amount.
- Without vegetarian mushroom sauce: the same amount of oyster sauce if you eat seafood. To keep it vegetarian, replace the 2 tablespoons with 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar: the sauce coats less but keeps its colour.
Storage
Two days in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat for 2 minutes in the wok over a high heat rather than in the microwave, which makes the beans soft. The dish doesn't freeze well: once thawed, the aubergine releases its water and turns spongy.
The Yakushi Wok Family Size
Uncoated stainless steel, Ø 38cm, no seasoning needed
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a regular aubergine?
Yes. Cut it into 5cm lengths, quarter each length lengthways and remove the seedy core before cutting the sticks. Its flesh is thicker than that of long aubergines: allow 2 to 3 minutes more per batch.
How do you stop aubergine soaking up all the oil?
Before browning it, microwave it for 3 minutes at full power, with the sticks spread out on a plate: the flesh softens and absorbs much less oil, and 2 to 3 minutes in the wok are then enough. You can also salt the sticks for 15 minutes in a colander, then pat them dry; in that case, don't salt the dish at the end.
Is this vegetable stir-fry vegan?
Yes, with the vegetarian mushroom sauce: all that's left is vegetables, oil, soy sauce and pepper. Check the label on the sauce, which should say vegetarian or vegan. With oyster sauce, it no longer is.
Can I use fine green beans or yard-long beans?
Yes. Fine beans blister faster: 4 to 5 minutes per batch is enough. Yard-long beans, the very long beans sold in bunches in Asian supermarkets, are cut into 5 to 7cm lengths; they're thinner than ordinary green beans, so keep an eye on them from 5 minutes.
