Looks Like a Need to Perfect the Quality
Several months ago, I stir-fried Chinese long beans for the first time. Just last month, I repeated the recipe that I found. After two attempts, I still need to figure out how to get them not too mushy nor chewy.
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
I’ve eaten Chinese long beans many times growing up, but only recently cooked them myself. At the supermarket that I often shop at, they’re pricier than many of the vegetables that they carry. However, since they were half off last autumn at $1.99 per pound, I had to buy some!
Inspiring Recipe
To help me along, I referenced Stir-Fried Chinese Long Beans, a recipe from SteamyKitchen.com, a food blog that’s been in existence for 19 years!
First Try
With the main ingredient purchased, I just had to gather the rest of them in my kitchen.
Ingredients to Use
Since I had 1.77 pounds of the long beans, I increased the remaining items on the default recipe and used the following:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon of cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
- 3 ounces + 1 tablespoon + 1/8 teaspoon of water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon of oyster sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon of soy sauce
Steps to Prepare
For the three simple steps in the instructions, I only had to modify the last one slightly by allowing the long beans to steam and evaporate for an extra minute each, totaling six minutes and two minutes, respectively.
Time to Eat
Here’s my first plate of Chinese long beans. Unfortunately, they don’t look like they were cooked evenly.
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣* | 🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
My family and I thought the flavor of the long beans were good. However, some pieces were too soft while other ones were undercooked.
Second Try
For the second attempt, my goal was to make long beans that were more uniform in feel when I bit into them.
Ingredients to Use
For the second round, I started with a little bit less Chinese long beans than before, about 1.42 pounds*, so I decreased the rest of the ingredients accordingly. What I ended up using was as follows:
- 1 tablespoon + 1 1/3 teaspoons of cooking oil
- 1/2 tablespoon + 1 1/3 teaspoons of crushed garlic**
- 2 ounces + 1 1/2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of water
- 1 tablespoon + 1 1/3 teaspoons of oyster sauce
- 1 1/3 teaspoons of soy sauce
*Some of the long beans that I had looked wetter and smelled stronger than last time. In addition, some were slimy, so after breaking the strands into three inches, I tossed away the ones that broke in half easily.
**Since I didn’t want to spend the extra time mincing the garlic cloves, I just crushed them instead.
Steps to Prepare
Again, I customized Step 3 of the instructions. In total, I steamed the long beans for 16 minutes. With the extra cooking time, I only had to wait one minute before the liquid had evaporated.
Time to Eat
The Chinese long beans looked more even this time, but I was worried about the taste, since I had kept them in the refrigerator past its prime.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣* | 🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
The pieces were all chewy this time, but the flavors were okay.
To improve the texture of the long beans next time, I will try the following:
Continuous Improvement
- Cook the long beans within a few days of buying them.
- Increase the amount of oil by what the recipe calls for in water and stir-fry the long beans until they’re tender, before adding the sauces at the end. (I will attempt the cooking method used in the recipe, Chinese Long Beans, from a kosher food and recipe website, JamieGeller.com.)
Seeing how the second batch of Chinese long beans looked after keeping them too long in the refrigerator, I learned the following that I would like to share with my younger self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Different vegetables have different shelf lives.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try Stir-Fried Chinese Long Beans, a recipe from SteamyKitchen.com, a food blog that’s been in existence for 19 years?
- Learn more about the shelf life for Chinese long beans? (The information for, How Long Do Raw Chinese Long Beans Last in the Fridge?, found on StillTasty, an online shelf-life food reference guide, is a good source.)
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)