Christina and Minoo made this Garlic Long Bean dish for the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors’ Chinese New Year celebration. This is a very simple dish and believe it or not, some of the members have not eaten long beans before.

Long bean has a firmer texture than green beans. It also has a nutty flavour. In Malaysia, we like to use long beans in curry and omelette. For the omelette recipe, beat 4 eggs with 1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1 teaspoon soy sauce) and set aside. Finely chop the long beans like you chop the green onions. Fry the long beans until lightly brown and transfer to a plate. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and wait until it shimmers. Add the eggs all at once, stirring the edges towards the center of the pan. Once the eggs are half-set, add the beans back to the pan and cook for one more minute or until the omelette is cooked but still moist.

Ingredients

• 1 pound long beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of knife and minced
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons vinegar (rice vinegar, cider or white wine vinegar are all fine)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup water or chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

Trim the long beans, then chop into 1-inch pieces. Mix soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and broth or water and red pepper flakes and set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large heavy skillet over high heat until surface of oil ripples.Add long beans and salt, and stir-fry over high heat for 5 minutes, or until beans look slightly puckered and are beginning to brown. Long beans are very sturdy, so do not afraid of overcooking them.

Add minced garlic, then stir-fry another minute or until garlic is fragrant.

Add chicken broth mixture, and continue to cook until long beans are crisp-tender, another 2-3 minutes or so.