Green Beans in Ginger Juice (Jiangzhi Doujiao, 姜汁豆角)
The Mala MarketIngredients
- A knob of ginger (about 20 grams, 0.7 ounces)
- 1½ tablespoons Chinese black vinegar (preferably Baoning or Chinkiang)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted chicken or vegetable stock
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon MSG (optional)
- 7 ounces (200 grams) green beans (Chinese long beans, regular green beans, or haricots verts)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce (preferably Zhongba)
Instructions
- Peel the ginger knob using the edge of a spoon. Finely grate 1 tablespoon of ginger into a small bowl. Finely mince another 1 tablespoon of ginger and set it aside for garnishing. Mix the grated ginger with the black vinegar, stock, ¼ teaspoon of the salt and the MSG (if using). Stir the mixture and let it steep for 10 minutes to extract the ginger’s flavor.
- Trim the green beans (if using long beans, cut them into about 4-inch pieces). Bring a small pot of water to a boil and blanch the beans until they are just tender but still crisp, about 3 minutes for Western beans and 1–2 minutes for yardlong beans. Remove them from the pot, drain in a colander, season with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt while hot, then let cool to room temperature.
- Strain the steeped ginger mixture through a fine-mesh sieve directly into a liquid measuring cup or a small bowl, pressing firmly on the pulp to extract all liquid; discard the solids. Whisk in the soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Pour the sauce over the green beans, top everything with the minced ginger, and serve at room temperature, or chilled if you’re making this ahead of time.
Notes
If you don’t have Chinese chicken or vegetable stock on hand, you can use 1 tablespoon of water mixed with ¼ teaspoon chicken bouillon powder instead.