Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Turkey

It's been a while since I posted a recipe....We've been enjoying this delicious dish over the past two days. It is very simple and takes only about 20 minutes to make but it definitely jumped into my top 5 favorite Asian recipes to prepare at home. The original recipe calls for ground pork but I never seem to have this on hand so substituted ground turkey instead. I've made it with ground beef too and it turned out great. The best part about it is that I got Graham to eat (and maybe actually enjoy) green beans! ;o) The recipes is nice and spicy and so we paired it with a Gewurztraminer. Try it!

Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Turkey
(Adapted slightly from Cooking Light Magazine)
1 pound lean ground turkey (or pork or beef)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
1 ½ lbs green beans
1 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic, divided
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
4 teaspoons sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper, divided
2 Tbsp + 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
4 cups hot cooked white rice

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add green beans and fry with ½ tsp garlic and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes until beans crisp tender. Set aside in bowl.

Heat remaining oil in skillet and turkey (or ground meat) mixture and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until meat loses its pink color, stirring to crumble. Add beans and toss to mix.

Combine hoisin and next 3 ingredients (through soy sauce) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add hoisin mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Serve over rice.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup pork mixture and 1/2 cup rice)