Stir fry Green Beans with Lemon and Fish Sauce

There is a reason why these Stir Fry Green Beans with Lemon and Fish Sauce are called Magic Beans at Girl and The Goat restaurant. They taste magical and this dish can transform into another one altogether. A few weeks ago, we were in Chicago for a family wedding. A few days before our event, my husband and I tried several much sought-after restaurants we’ve been hearing about. Girl and The Goat topped that list. A quick read of the online reviews told me I was going to enjoy this one because the menu sounded a lot like Filipino food, with some variations.

If you’ve always found steamed or stir fried green beans to be boring, say no more. This dish is going to change your mind. Even if you’re a non-veggies type of person, I guarantee you will be a convert by the end of the meal.

First of all, you can find a pound of fresh green beans almost everywhere, any time of the year. In the Philippines, these are called ‘Baguio beans’ – I’m guessing because they were grown in Baguio, a mountain resort city in the north of the Philippines with a cooler climate. We could buy these in the Philippines through the Baguio market. Over here in the USA, these are widely grown commercially and so fresh green beans are easy to find in most markets year round.

I cooked these green beans today because it was the Labor Day holiday weekend. For most Americans, the Labor Day weekend symbolizes the end of summer and the start of the school year. Labor Day falls on the first Monday in September. It is a federal holiday in America to celebrate workers. This traditional holiday goes back to the 1800s during America’s Industrial Revolution. Today, this holiday is celebrated with parades, picnics and outdoor barbecues.

This is why I cooked these Magic Green Beans. If you’re bringing a side dish to a barbecue or potluck, this will round up your hosts’ menu – the savory flavors will complement any grilled entrée, whether meat or seafood. If you’re cooking this for the family this weekend, you can enjoy it as a meal in itself. Or do as I did. I added a few slices of sweet pork longanisa (cured sausages). I used Martin’s Pure Foods Pork Hamonado Longanisa, a gift from the Martin family. The results were ‘magical’. The transformation from green beans side dish to robust entrée of green beans with sweet pork sausages was superb.

So, let’s get these beans bouncing off the stove and onto your plates. Happy Labor Day weekend, to all!

Print Recipe

Stir fry Green Beans with Lemon and Fish Sauce

 When we ordered a plate of Chef Stephanie Izard’s Magic Green Beans at the Chicago restaurant ‘Girl and The Goat’, I first thought the beans looked plain and too simple. But when I pierced my fork into a few crisp, shiny stalks, with the savory aioli slithering down the green beans, I was hooked. There was a hint of Asian sauces in it – I easily identified the patis (fish sauce) and the calamansi (Filipino lime) and other flavorful ingredients which added a zing to the entire platter. When I got back home, I recreated the green beans dish right away. It was easy and simple yet the Asian zesty flavors were simply magical. Serve it with rice..This recipe was inspired by Nutmeg Nanny.

  My version of this recipe serves 2 to up to 4 if paired with rice.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Asian

Keyword: Stir fry Green Beans with Lemon and Fish Sauce

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Asian in America

Equipment

• Large skillet or wok : 12 to 14 inches in diameter

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup patis ( fish sauce ) for dressing
• 1/4 cup lemon or calamansi juice
• 1/8 cup Tamari sauce or low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha
• 2 cloves garlic minced fine
• 3/4 cup aioli mayonnaise for green beans; recipe follows below
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for stir fry
• 1 whole medium-sized red onion sliced thin
• 1 1/2 pounds green beans washed, tops trimmed; about 3 cups, cut into 2-inch length pieces
• 1/2 cup garlic peanuts or adobong mani store-bought or bottled
• 2 to 3 pieces cooked pork longanisa (Filipino cured sausages) sliced or about 3/4 cup
• for serving boiled rice

Instructions

• To make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing: fish sauce, lemon juice, Tamari or low sodium soy sauce, Dijon mustard, sriracha, garlic. Blend well. Cover and set aside. This makes about 3/4 cup of dressing. Set aside.
• To stir fry the green beans: Using a large skillet, over medium high heat, add the cooking oil. In a minute or two, when the oil heats up, add the red onion slices. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes till onions are translucent.
• Add the green beans to the skillet. The beans will cook quickly in about 6 minutes.
• While the green beans are cooking pour half a cup of the dressing into the skillet, over the green beans. Incorporate the sauce well.
• Toss in the adobong mani (garlic peanuts) and mix well. When the beans turn from bright green to a darker emerald green the dish is cooked.

  Turn off heat and keep covered. There will be residual heat within the skillet which will continue cooking the green beans. To avoid the vegetables getting overcooked, move the skillet away from the stove while you mix the aioli.
• To make the aioli: Separately, in a medium-sized bowl, mix the mayonnaise and a tablespoon or two of the dressing. Whisk well to blend.

  To assemble: Serve the green beans on a platter. Pour any remaining dressing over it. Drizzle the aioli over the green beans.
• Optional: If there are cooked longaniza slices left over from another meal, heat the sausages for a minute in the microwave or the skillet used. Place on top of the sautéed green beans. Serve piping hot.
• Ingredient substitute: the original recipe calls for cashews. Instead, I used 'adobong mani' which are garlic peanuts (use store bought or make them at home like I cooked in a past blog post to give the green beans an additional Filipino flavor.
• Hello, Friends! All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos and  recipe content I wrote, on your website  without my permission. If you want to republish this recipe or content on another website or news article, please ASK my permission, re-write it in your own words and simply link back to this blog to give proper attribution. It’s the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 150kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 80mg | Potassium: 359mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1174IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 2mg

Notes on Nutrition: The nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.

Did you like this recipe?I have more Filipino Instant Pot recipes in my newest cookbook Instant Filipino Recipes: My Mother’s Traditional Philippine Cooking in A Multicooker Pot by Elizabeth Ann Besa-Quirino. I also have more classic recipes inspired by my mother’s cooking in my popular cookbook: My Mother’s Philippine Recipes. If you’re learning how to cook Filipino food or a fan of Philippine cuisine, buy my cookbooks and books on Amazon.com sold worldwide in paperback and Kindle format.

Copyright Notice: Hello, Friends! Please DO NOT LIFT OR PLAGIARIZE my original recipe, stories, photos or videos. All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos, essays, stories and recipe content on your websites, books, films, television shows, videos, without my permission. If you wish to republish this recipe or content on media outlets mentioned above, please ASK MY PERMISSION, or re-write it in your own words and link back to my blog AsianInAmericaMag.com to give proper attribution. It is the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]