Dried-Fried Long Beans With Tempeh

I apologize if anyone encountered any weirdness while visiting my blog lately. Last week, there was a “denial of services” attack on the server hosting my blog. I just don’t get why anyone would want to do such a thing.

It’s been quite the experience, first one thing gets fixed, then something else goes wrong, that gets fixed, then another thing is broken and now it’s working again. Have I mention I don’t like roller coasters?

Anyways, on to the food. Once again, I’m just cooking whatever looks good at the weekly farmer’s market. This week it’s long beans, also called yard-long beans, Chinese long beans or asparagus beans. They look like really long, super skinny green beans.

I always see them at the chain grocery stores and they usually look like they’ve been there forever, all shrivel up and way past their prime. I don’t know why those stores even bother to put it out there or even who buys it. If it’s in season, then the farmer’s market is the place to go.

Two types are available around here, a thicker light green one and a skinner dark green one. Sometimes there’s also a purple variety, while it was a beautiful color amongst the green at the farmer’s market, they sadly do not stay purple when cooked but turned a dark green.

For a vegan version of the popular Sichuan dried-fried long beans dish, I use the tempeh filling from Tempeh Stuffed Yellow Chile Peppers to replace the traditional pork and Sichuan preserved vegetable.

Dried-Fried Long Beans With Tempeh
Serves 2 – 4 as part of a meal

1 bunch of long beans, about 12 ounces
1/4 cup tempeh filling
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Sauce
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Snap off the ends of the long beans, break into 3″ pieces and wash in several changes of water. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients, mix well and set aside.

Heat a wok until hot, add the oil and then the long beans. Cook until crisp-tender and the skins a little charred, about 6 – 8 minutes, stirring frequently. (The wok will become very, very hot, so be careful around it.) Transfer the long beans to a bowl.

Lower the heat to medium and add more oil if necessary. Add the garlic and the tempeh, stirring for about 15 seconds. Add the long beans back in and the sauce ingredients. Stir to combine until everything is well-coated. Serve immediately.