Home / Food & Drink / Delicious Chinese-Influenced Green Beans With Chicken
Delicious Chinese-Influenced Green Beans With Chicken

Photo credit: CaribbeanPot.com.

Delicious Chinese-Influenced Green Beans With Chicken

By Chef Chris De La Rosa
Culinary Specialist

Chris-De-La-RosaLike spinach — and all greens — beans, of all types, are my some of my favorite foods to eat and cook.

This recipe is based on a bean dish, found at many Chinese restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago — and Markham, Ontario. While not the exact thing, it can hold its own on any dinner table.

Feel free to substitute ground beef, turkey or pork, if you want to play around with the protein, a bit. And I’m sure my vegan friends can make use of some firm tofu if they’d like to give this one a test-drive. BTW, salted cod bits would rock, in this recipe too, instead of the chicken.

You’ll Need…
1 lb string beans (trimmed)
1/2 lb ground chicken
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
(add more if needed)
1 tablespoon diced ginger
2 large cloves garlic 
(diced fine)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Hoisin Sauce
2-4 drops sesame oil
1 1/4 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2-3 birds’ eye pepper
1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine

IMPORTANT! Please go though the entire list of ingredients, if making this dish gluten-free, to make sure they meet with your specific gluten-free dietary needs — especially the soy and Hoisin sauces.

In your wok or pan, add the vegetable oil and ground chicken, and brown-off, on a medium heat. As it cooks, bring a pot of water to a boil, then go in with the trimmed beans. Blanche quickly (about 2-3 minutes), then rinse in cold water or in a bowl with water and ice. The idea is to stop the cooking and help maintain the brilliant green color.

I added the vegetable oil, as the ground chicken can be very dry. Note that during the winter months in Canada, the water in the tap is very cold, so I didn’t have to use ice.

Be sure to break up the chicken as it browns off — it took about 5 to 7 minutes. Now add the garlic, ginger and diced bird’s eye pepper (I included the seeds for a gentle kick). Cook on low heat, so you don’t burn the garlic. After about 3 minutes, add the Hoisin sauce, black pepper, and soy sauce. Stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the sesame oil and cooking wine and stir.

Turn the heat up to med/high, to get a bit of crisp edges on the ground chicken, then go in with the beans and stir well. Top with the salt.

Do keep in mind that the soy sauce, we used, will help to season this dish, so be mindful if adding extra salt.

After adding the beans, I cooked it for another 4 minutes, or so, but you can cook for longer or less, depending on how you like your beans cooked. Be mindful that I did precook the beans, a bit, at the start. Adjust the salt at this point. I topped with a whole bird’s eye pepper, for show.

This is a lovely dish, influenced by our rich Chinese history and culture in the Caribbean. Do give it a try, and be sure to come back and share your comments, below.

Do you own a copy of my cookbook? If no, you can buy it from: The Vibrant Caribbean Pot 100 Traditional And Fusion recipes Vol 2

This recipe is courtesy of Gourmand Award-winning cookbook author and founder of CaribbeanPot.com, Chris De La Rosa. With over 450 printable recipes, with step by step cooking instructions and demo videos, PLUS over 1 million social/fan connections, globally, every month, CaribbeanPot.com is the world’s #1 resource for Caribbean Culinary Culture. Connect with Chis on Instagram: www.instagram.com/caribbeanpot/.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Scroll To Top