Green Beans in XO Sauce (Kisses & Hugs)

Stir-fried with lots of chicken

A friend recently exclaimed “I’m so sick of broccoli”.

Said friend, who has the figure of a goddess, eats broccoli as her staple at every meal. She told me that one day she revolted against her routine and bought some green beans instead! Good for her!! We are so lucky to have such a wide healthy range of produce available but it is easy to go on auto-pilot at the market and buy the same vegetables, day in, day out.

My regular market shop has a tendency towards broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, zucchini, avocado & tomatoes. Lately, I have been too tired to explore much else.  And I got thinking: yes, we eat a lot of broccoli and come to think of it, I’m a bit sick of it too! And I don’t know why, I always forget about green beans! and radishes.

Queensland is the main producer of green beans (also known as French or string beans) in Australia and are grown all year round, in various locations depending on the season. They are really easy to grow too which makes me wonder, ‘why haven’t I got any in the garden?’

My favourite way to cook green beans is to stir-fry them with some pork or chicken mince. You will see something similar at your local yum cha restaurant. The beans are meant to dominate – it’s a bean dish, not a chicken dish, after all, but sometimes I get carried away like I have in the above photo.  And it’s really easy, only using one pan which is great for washing up!

The secret ingredient is the XO sauce which is easy to make, note to self; do post on XO sauce or you can buy it from the Asian section at the local supermarket. Chinese XO sauce is really a decoction of flavoured oil with rich umami flavours. Home-made is much nicer, see how it’s done here.

I serve this with some steamed rice for the boys and I have mine with cauliflower rice or even wrapped in lettuce, sang choi bao style. Yum – a nice change from broccoli!

1 clove garlic

200g chicken thighs or pork belly, cubed

1 tab tamari or soy

2 teas maize cornflour or tapioca flour

2 teas brown rice syrup (or 1 teas honey)

½ teas dried chilli flakes

1 tab rice wine

2 tab oil or lard

300g green beans, topped but not tailed!

1 carrot, shredded

30g Chinese XO sauce

Chop the garlic on SP 8 for 5 seconds. Add the meat and chop on SP 5 until minced but not puréed. Add the tamari, flour, brown rice syrup, wine & chilli flakes and mix on SP 5 REVERSE to combine.

In a wok or frying pan, heat the oil until hot and add the raw green beans to stir fry. Toss them over a high heat until the skins start to blister and brown. This might take up to 10 minutes.  Add the shredded carrot and meat and continue to stir-fry, breaking up the meat with a spatula. When the meat is just cooked add the XO sauce and cook for further 5 minutes for the flavour to come out and a sauce coats the beans.