This string bean stir-fry recipe is easy and satisfying, made with pork, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and zha cai, Chinese pickled mustard stems. It’s a full meal, delicious with a bowl of rice!
What is Zha Cai?
When you’re at the Chinese grocery store, you may see various packets of seasoned pickles from salted radish to pickled mustard greens, to preserved mustard stems.
Zha cai is a preserved mustard stem, specifically. It’s also sometimes labeled “salted radish,” which is quite confusing! It’s different from Cantonese style haam choy or other varieties of preserved mustard greens too.
The variety used in this noodle soup recipe is called xue cai, 雪菜, “snow vegetable,” and sui mi ya cai (碎米芽菜), the variety we use in dan dan noodles, is also a type of preserved mustard stem, but it has a very different flavor!
Read more about pickled and preserved ingredients:
Our Ingredients glossary is full of information on all the different pickled, fermented, and preserved Chinese ingredients out there.
Zha cai is a little crunchy, a little tender, and comes pre-cut so you can just add it straight to the wok. If you’ve never tried it, it has a distinctive flavor and aroma that will draw in any pickle lover. Trust us, it’s absolutely delicious!
The mustard stems are salted and pressed, dried, then fermented. It comes mild or spicy, and it’s a great accompaniment to noodle soups, pao fan (rice porridge), or congee. It adds a little flavor boost wherever you need it!
Tips for Stir-frying String Beans
When it comes to stir-frying string beans (i.e. green beans), they take longer than you might think!
It’s why we stir-fry them first with a little salt to draw excess water out. In a restaurant setting, they might be deep-fried, which cooks them quickly and gets them really tender (hence why dishes like Sichuan Dry Fried Green Beans are such a favorite).
At home, a little bit of steam helps make up for the lack of frying oil and the result is tasty and a bit lighter!
As for the rest of this dish, it’s really Chinese stir-fry technique 101—nothing tricky so long as you know the steps:
- Marinate and velvet the pork with cornstarch, water, and seasonings
- Cook the ingredients to accommodate different cooking times. In this recipe, we cook the string beans first because that takes the longest, remove them from the wok, then cook the pork. From there it all comes together easily.
- Add the seasonings and stir-fry to perfection!
This dish also makes delicious leftovers. It’s a great candidate for meal prep, as the green beans will hold up throughout the week!
String Bean Stir-fry Recipe Instructions
In a medium bowl, add the ground pork, cornstarch, white pepper, water, neutral oil, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Mix well, and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dish.
Heat a wok over medium heat until lightly smoking. Add the neutral oil to the wok, along with the string beans. Toss the string beans to coat in the oil, and sprinkle with the salt. Cook for 2 minutes uncovered, and then for 7-10 minutes covered, tossing periodically with a wok spatula. They should be bright green but lightly blistered.
Transfer the beans to a dish, leaving behind as much oil as you can. Add the pork to the wok and brown until lightly golden. Then add the garlic and fry for 1 minute or so. Add the zha cai.
Deglaze the wok with the Shaoxing wine. Add the green beans back in along with the scallions, followed by the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce (if using), and sugar. Stir-fry to combine.
Serve!
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Recipe
String Bean Stir-fry with Pork & Zha Cai
Ingredients
For the pork and marinade:
- 6 ounces ground pork
- 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoons water
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil (such as canola, vegetable, or avocado oil)
- 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
For the rest of the dish:
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 pound green beans (trimmed)
- 4 garlic cloves (finely chopped or minced)
- 2.5 ounces zha cai (preserved mustard stems; 1 package)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 1 small scallion
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1½ teaspoons oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon dark soy sauce (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the ground pork, cornstarch, white pepper, water, neutral oil, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Mix well, and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dish.
- Heat a wok over medium heat until lightly smoking. Add the neutral oil to the wok, along with the string beans. Toss the string beans to coat in the oil, and sprinkle with the salt. Cook for 2 minutes uncovered, and then for 7-10 minutes covered, tossing periodically with a wok spatula. They should be lightly blistered and bright green.
- Transfer the beans to a dish, leaving behind as much oil as you can. Add the pork to the wok and brown until lightly golden. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute or so. Add the zha cai.
- Deglaze the wok with the Shaoxing wine. Add the green beans back in along with the scallions, followed by the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce (if using), and sugar. Stir-fry to combine until everything is uniformly seasoned. Serve!
