Liang ban 凉拌 -- The Chinese equivalent of salad. 四季豆杏鲍菇凉拌

[abcdefg]

If you are recently arrived in China, you may have discovered that the vegetable section of many restaurant menus features hearty combinations with stick-to-your-ribs portions of meat and potatoes that overshadow the lighter veggies in the dish. Furthermore, these often arrive at your table swimming in oil.

 

If you are puzzled regarding how to get some simple fresh vegetables in a restaurant, three approaches can help you out. The first is to just order a vegetable stir-fried alone, such as 清炒菠菜。This would get you a plate of plain sautéed spinach. The waitress might ask if you wanted them to add garlic, 加蒜泥。

 

Another method is to order a clear soup made with a green leafy vegetable. Example of that would be 苦菜汤, the unfortunate translation of which is “bitter sow thistle.” It’s usually just the named vegetable and water, boiled till tender, with perhaps a dash of oil and a pinch of salt. 

 

The third approach is to order a 凉拌 or cold dish, made with a vegetable and an oil-vinegar dressing or sauce. Even though the name says “cold,” these are usually served at room temperature and take the place of salad in a western meal more or less.

 

Today I’ll show you how to make one of my summer favorites: long green beans and king oyster mushrooms 四季豆杏鲍菇凉拌。Simple flavors with a pleasant crunch. I sometimes eat it by itself as a light lunch topped with a hard-boiled egg, but it can also be a side dish for your dumplings/jiaozi 饺子 and your lamb kebabs 羊肉串。

 

These 四季豆 beans go by several names, much as they do in English, and are easy to find in supermarkets here as well as closer to the source. They should be fairly stiff and not limp; color should be a vibrant deep green. I buy mine at the wet market, where a large bunch, enough for two generous meals, sells for 2 or 3 Yuan. They are traditionally paired with king oyster mushrooms  杏鲍菇，but if you can't find these, the dish will work with other mild-flavored mushrooms just about as well. 

 

(You can click the photos to enlarge them.) 

 

King oyster mushrooms 杏鲍菇 are on the left. They often grow on the stumps of dead hardwood trees. They have an umami note as expected and a tender texture, often compared to abalone or ... well,  better yet, about like oysters. Flavor is mild, sometimes with a slightly sweet aftertaste. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut away and discard the base of any thick, woody stems. Brush off soil with a wet paper towel. It's not necessary to scrub or soak them. Chinese chefs find their texture is best if you tear them into strips or coarse shreds with your fingers instead of chopping them with a knife. This gives a more pleasant mouth feel 口感。

 

   

 

 

Wash the beans and cut off the stem end. These are about as long as my forearm, but they aren't tough or knobby. They don't have tough "strings" or "threads" on the margin like some other varieties.The peas inside the long pods are tender and immature. I slice them into 6 or 8 inch sections, cutting on a diagonal, but you could chop them straight across to save a few seconds if necessary. I've also finely chopped three or four cloves of garlic 大蒜 and a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger 生姜。Removed some of the seeds from three hot chilies and cut them into thin strips 切丝。

 

   

 

 

Blanch 焯 the mushrooms in a pot of lightly-salted boiling water for a minute or so. Lift them out with a strainer and drain their water 捞出、流干水粉。You will use the same pot of water in a minute to boil the beans, so don't discard it. Saute the chilies, garlic and ginger in a little oil. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry quickly, adding a conservative pinch of salt. They don't need to brown; you just want the flavor of the aromatics to develop and blend with that of the mushrooms. Scoop them out into a temporary holding pan 备用。

 

    

 

 

 

Boil the beans for 4 or 5 minutes, testing them frequently so as to stop the process when they just barely begin to get tender. Don't overcook them; better if they are al dente. Drain them and "shock" them quickly with ice water. This stops the cooking and also improves their color. Drain them well and toss them with the cooked mushrooms 拌匀。

 

   

 

 

Sauce the combined beans and mushrooms with 2 tablespoons of olive oil 橄榄油, 1 tablespoon of aged vinegar 老陈醋, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce 生抽, half a teaspoon each of salt 食用盐 and sugar 白沙糖。 MSG 味精 1/4 teaspoon if you use it. (I do.) Toss everything together and allow the flavors to blend by putting it in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes. It doesn't need to actually get cold. Best served at cool room temperature. 

 

   

 

It's easy to find this dish or some variation of it in simple neighborhood restaurants all over China. It's also pretty straight forward to make at home. Give it a try and see what you think. This kind of food works real well when the days are warm, such as now. 

[mungouk]

Great stuff, @abcdefg!  Maybe I should just come and stay with you in Kunming ?

Regarding soup/broth — is there an easy way of detecting (or probably asking) whether it contains meat?  I had some nice crab wonton in Suzhou recently, but half-way through realised they were cooked in pork broth.  I don't eat meat.

 

 

[Shelley]

@mungoukI don't think you can. There have been other post in some of abcdefg's posts that discuss this and it seems that restaurants etc think its ok even if you are vegetarian, it won't hurt for you to have little meat. 

 

If you ask they may lie unknowingly, they might think it doesn't contain meat but it does, or they just plain don't know or even don't care. I have asked this question about nuts as I have an allergy and I have decided that its just not safe to trust them, this is one reason I have never actually been to China and why I probably will never go, I would either starve or get poisoned

[abcdefg]

7 hours ago, mungouk said:

Maybe I should just come and stay with you in Kunming

 

Thanks, @mungouk -- You would definitely be welcome to visit! 

 

2 hours ago, Shelley said:

There have been other post in some of abcdefg's posts that discuss this and it seems that restaurants etc think its ok even if you are vegetarian, it won't hurt for you to have little meat. 

 

@Shelley is right about this being an ongoing challenge. It requires a discussion with the waiter or maybe even with the cook. The reality of the situation is that the restaurant probably starts a tall stock pot bubbling on a back burner in the morning when they open for business. It's typical to add various soup bones and compatible vegetable scraps to it throughout the day, topping up the water to keep the pot from running dry. This is then used to form the base of many actual soups and to add a ladle or two  to dishes which are being stewed 焖 in a covered wok as needed. 

 

Best bet is to make it abundantly clear that you don't eat any kind of meat or meat products in any form. It's not enough to just say "I'm vegetarian" and let it go at that. 我吃素。Also, specifically request your soup be made with 清水 qingshui/plain water instead of with 高汤 gaotang/stock. 

 

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These long beans are so versatile and easy to use that they have become one of my "go to" items when I want to change up the vegetable rotation in my kitchen. I often buy some, clean, cut and parboil them for a couple minutes and then stir fry them with garlic, ginger, onions, ground meat and chilies.  

 

Can use half the bunch like that and keep the remainder in the fridge several days, eventually using them in a soup with mushrooms and chicken. They also work well with fresh corn. 

 

Several famous Sichuan recipes feature them, most notably 干煸四季豆。It is difficult to make this dish properly at home, and I usually order it in a Sichuan restaurant instead. 

 

 

 

[Bibu]

On 8/22/2018 at 6:20 AM, abcdefg said:

You would definitely be welcome to visit! 

 is there a waiting list?

[abcdefg]

No waiting list, @Bibu -- You are welcome too!

[oceancalligraphy]

Is it always necessary to blanche vegetables when preparing 凉拌？Or is it dependent on the type of vegetables? I don't remember blanching 黃瓜 because the centers would not be crisp.

 

 

On 8/21/2018 at 3:20 PM, abcdefg said:

Best bet is to make it abundantly clear that you don't eat any kind of meat or meat products in any form. It's not enough to just say "I'm vegetarian" and let it go at that. 我吃素。Also, specifically request your soup be made with 清水 qingshui/plain water instead of with 高汤 gaotang/stock. 

 

Does 齋 hold any weight in China? I think the proper translation is Jain vegetarianism. It's much stricter than vegetarianism, but I wonder if that would get the point across about no meat products whatsoever. 

[abcdefg]

21 hours ago, oceancalligraphy said:

Is it always necessary to blanche vegetables when preparing 凉拌？Or is it dependent on the type of vegetables? I don't remember blanching 黃瓜 because the centers would not be crisp.

 

Glad you asked. It's not necessary to blanch vegetables which are already tender, such as cucumbers. But these long beans 四季豆 are too tough and fibrous to chew unless they are precooked a little bit. Same would go for lotus root in a salad. Here's an example of that: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/49345-hot-weather-eats-lotus-root-salad-藕片凉拌/ 

 

Some other vegetables, such as eggplant, aren't really tough but are still usually precooked, often steamed, to give them a pleasant silky texture or mouth feel 口感。Here's an example of that: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/56568-steamed-eggplant-with-garlic-vinaigrette-蒜蓉蒸茄子/ 

 

21 hours ago, oceancalligraphy said:

Does 齋 hold any weight in China? I think the proper translation is Jain vegetarianism. It's much stricter than vegetarianism, but I wonder if that would get the point across about no meat products whatsoever. 

 

I'm not sure. Probably best for someone who is vegetarian to answer. (I eat everything as long as it tastes good.)