Vibrant Garlic Chili Long Bean Salad
Welcome to what might just become your new favorite side dish! If you’re searching for a recipe that is lightning-fast, incredibly simple, yet delivers a powerful punch of flavor and a stunning pop of color to your dinner table, you’ve found it. This dish, centered around crisp, tender long beans, is a masterclass in how a few simple ingredients can create something truly special. Forget long, complicated cooking processes; this is all about blanching, a quick technique that perfectly cooks the beans while keeping them wonderfully crisp and brilliantly green. We’ll toss them in a savory, tangy, and garlicky sauce that you can whip up in minutes. In under 10 minutes, you can have a restaurant-quality vegetable dish that is as healthy as it is delicious. It’s the perfect, effortlessly elegant accompaniment to almost any meal. Let’s gather our ingredients. The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity and flexibility. Don’t worry if you can’t find an ingredient; I’ll provide some easy and common substitutions. For the Salad: Long Beans: 1 lb (about 450g). These are sometimes called yardlong beans or asparagus beans. Their texture is wonderfully tender-crisp. If you can’t find them, regular green beans or slender French beans (haricots verts) are a perfect substitute. Garlic: 3-4 cloves, minced. Feel free to adjust based on how much you love garlic! Red Chili: 1 small fresh red chili, such as a Fresno or a red jalapeño, thinly sliced. For less heat, remove the seeds. If you don’t have fresh chili, a 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes will work beautifully. A drizzle of neutral oil: Such as canola or vegetable oil. This is our little secret for keeping the beans vibrant. A pinch of salt: For the blanching water. For the Dressing: Light Soy Sauce: 2 tablespoons. This is…