I didn’t want to get a lot of spatter and I didn’t want to use a lot of oil so I experimented with steaming the beans first on a plate for about 5 minutes. This softens them up.

Take out the steamed beans and allow them to dry a few minutes. They should be quite dry but not totally dry to the touch then.

Then heat the wok with a little oil. You can heat the oil until it smokes and then turn down the heat, wait a minute or two, and then return the beans to the wok. This way you cut down on the potential for spatter.

Stir fry them until they start to shrivel up and burn patches start to appear. This will take a few minutes. You certainly don’t need to stand around for ages. The degree of burning is up to you.

Take out the shriveled beans when they’re ready and reserve for use later in the recipe.

You can then proceed with the rest of the recipe which shouldn’t take too long either.

It works just great for me! You save on the oil and you cut down on the potential for spatter. The final result is the same as you get in a restaurant, to me at least.

Danny