Dry-fried green beans (Ganbian sijidou)

1. Wash the green beans, dry them thoroughly, trim the ends and cut into 6-8 cm lengths; finely chop the garlic and ginger and very finely chop the pickled mustard greens; break the dried chillies in half.

2. Heat the oil in the wok and fry the beans over medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes, tossing often, until the skins are wrinkled and blistered brown in places; lift out with a slotted spoon.

3. In the oil left in the wok, fry the minced pork for 2-3 minutes until crumbly and slightly crisp.

4. Add the Sichuan pepper, chillies, garlic, ginger and pickled mustard greens and stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.

5. Return the beans, add the soy sauce, sugar and salt and stir-fry together for 1-2 minutes.

6. Serve immediately with rice.

Tip: A Sichuan classic that fries the beans until "wrinkled", concentrating their flavour. The pickled mustard greens give the characteristic salty-umami depth; if you have none, use finely chopped gherkins.