Instructions: Place the ground pork in a bowl, add all of the marinade ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Heat the groundnut oil in a wok until moderately hot. Deep-fry the beans in 3 batches until the skins begin to wrinkle and the beans are softened (about 3 minutes). Remove and drain well. Pour off most of the oil from the wok, leaving about 1 tablespoon behind.

Heat the remaining groundnut oil. Add the pork and quickly stir-fry over high heat with the salt, dried shrimp, garlic, preserved Sichuan vegetable, and chili bean paste. Stir-fry until the meat changes color from pink to white, about 2 minutes. Return the beans to the wok and toss until well combined and heated through. Serve, either hot or cold, garnished with the chopped red chili pepper.

This recipe yields 6 servings.

Comments: This unusual-shaped bean is an ancient Chinese vegetable. It is a long (15-inch), thin, round bean, olive green in color with a "meatier" softer texture and stronger flavor than the green bean. The southern Chinese eat the young bean whole or simply snapped in half. The northerners use the vegetable dried.

This is a famous Sichuan (Szechwan) recipe, in which the beans are first deep-fried, giving them a rich, deep flavor, and then combined with a spicy meat sauce.

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