This simple stir fry of Chinese sausage (lap cheong) and green beans makes for a quick lunch or dinner. Season with garlic, chicken broth, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. So ono ^_^
Chinese Sausage and Green Beans
Chinese sausage and green beans, that's all it is!
This is an easy dish that we like to make for weekend lunches. You can serve it as a main dish (which is what we usually do) or a side dish to go with a few other recipes.
It's something I recall my mom always making for us as kids. And now I make it with my husband.
Ingredients
You need only two main ingredients:
- Green Beans
- Chinese Sausage (aka Lap Cheong)
We add one key ingredient for flavor:
- Minced Garlic - the more garlic the better! Feel free to double or even triple the amount of garlic in this recipe. My mom uses a whole head of garlic each time.
The seasoning sauce is made from 3 pantry ingredients:
- Chicken Broth - We just mix this with hot water.
- Oyster Sauce
- Soy Sauce
Bonus:
- White Pepper - If you have white pepper, add it! I love white pepper in this dish ^_^
Method
This dish comes together pretty quickly, so it's nice to prepare and have everything in place.
- First thing is to trim and blanch the green beans.
- Slice and saute the Chinese sausages, and then put them back on a plate.
- Then stir fry the green beans and garlic.
- Add the Chinese sausages back in.
- Add the sauce mixture.
- Cook a few more minutes and then you are time! Time to eat.
Pretty straightforward and easy.
Chinese Sausage
Chinese sausage is the popular name, but in Hawaii everyone (whether you're Chinese or not) calls it lap cheong which is the Cantonese name for these sausages. They're sweet and wonderful and usually sold in packs of 10.
On the mainland, you can find Chinese sausage at all Chinese markets. In Hawaii can we can get Chinese sausage at nearly all markets. Even Costco Hawaii and our local drugstore sells Chinese sausage. Just make sure to ask for it by the name "lap cheong" (otherwise everyone will think you are a tourist) ^_^
Chinese sausage is sold dried and keeps in the fridge for a long time. Just take out however many sausages you need each time, and put the rest back in a sealed bag.
For this recipe, all you need to do is slice the sausage. I like to slice it thin (like ¼-inch thick) and at an angle (so that you get longer, more elegant pieces). Saute them for a few minutes over medium heat, and then remove the sausages to a plate while you cook the green beans.
Make sure you remove them to a paper towel lined plate. Chinese sausages are delightfully fatty (so much flavor!) But we don't need all that fat, so the paper towel helps to soak up some of the fat.
You'll also be left with a good amount of fat in the pan. Drain off the excess fat (we pour it into an empty can that we store in the freezer for this purpose). There's no need to wipe down the pan, a the little remaining fat will be used to saute the green beans in the next step.
Chinese Sausage Recipes
If you love lap cheong as much as we do, check out our Chinese Sausage Over Rice recipe...the whole dish is made in the rice cooker.
Yang Chow Fried Rice is our go-to Chinese sausage fried rice recipe. It has shrimp, lap cheong, and eggs. Season with fish sauce and finish with green onions.
My favorite way to eat lap cheong barely requires a recipe. Just slice and pan fry. Eat with rice or congee/jook.
There are a million different ways to eat lap cheong! We'll post more recipes soon.
Green Beans
You can use any kind of green beans. In this recipe I'm using French green beans (also called haricots verts)...I love them because they're long and thin and sweeter than many other types of green beans.
To prepare the green beans for this recipe, trim both ends of each bean. Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the beans for 3 minutes. Drain and shock the beans in a bowl of cold water (this stops the cooking and help the green beans retain that bright green color). The photo above is of the green beans right after blanching.
Questions
The dish is best eaten the day of (ideally as soon as you're done cooking when it's still hot and sizzling!) But if you have leftovers, just store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. To reheat, microwave for 1-2 minutes.
I often make this dish for a simple weekend lunch. This recipe is good as a main dish for two people to share (don't forget to cook rice or congee/jook). If you're serving this with other dishes, it goes well with our recipes for Hot Sesame Oil Tofu, Ants Climbing A Tree (noodles), and Garlic and Fish Sauce Eggplant recipes.
You can't substitute anything for the Chinese sausage, but you can use any type of green bean. Or replace the green beans entirely with sugar snap peas or broccoli florets.
Chinese Sausage and Green Beans Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Chinese Sausage and Green Beans
This simple stir fry of Chinese sausage (lap cheong) and green beans makes for a quick lunch or dinner. Season with garlic, chicken broth, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Eat with rice ^_^
Ingredients
- 1 pound green beans
- 3 Chinese sausage (lap cheong) links
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the green beans. Trim the ends and blanch for 2 minutes.
- Prepare the seasoning sauce. Mix the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and white pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Slice the lap cheong into thin pieces. Saute over medium heat till crisp. Remove the lap cheong to a paper towel lined plate. Pour the excess fat from the pan.
- Turn the heat to medium-high heat. Add the green beans. Saute for 3 minutes, try to get a nice char or blister on the green beans if you can.
- Add minced garlic to the pan. Saute for one minute.
- Add the lap cheong back. Combine and saute for 1 minute.
- Pour in the sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes (until the sauce is almost all absorbed). Serve hot with rice.
OMG KATHY! This was the most ono dish ever & so simple! The sauce is just right...it really makes the dish.
The only thing I did different, was to steam the lap cheong for 15 min. to get rid of most of the oil, then sliced it.
Mahalo for another favorite family recipe!
Aloha Susan! Thank you so much for the kind words, I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe! Love that you steamed the lap cheong, that's a great idea. Going to try it that way next time ^_^
- Kathy