The Beijing Center is surrounded by over thirty restaurants, all bursting with good and interesting food. At many of them, especially the ones closest to campus, meals are fast, cheap, and most of all delicious.
A student favorite for many long years until it closed its doors in late 2017, the restaurant affectionately nicknamed ‘Green Beans’ was a great place to get a variety of warm and filling dishes – but most famous (and thought to be most delicious) of all was its Stir Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork.
Photos from TBC Alum John Schmidt
‘Green Beans’ closed because the owner moved back to his hometown to enjoy a more relaxing lifestyle, but the place where it stood is still a restaurant. Other student favorites have also undergone transformation, as places in Beijing usually do. Hangzhou, another hangout spot, still stands but the doors switched sides from front to back. ‘Big Plate’ has expanded and has more tables now than ever. ‘Two Kids’ is now a cafe perfect for studying in, and Lakers UIBE has unfortunately ceased operations.
Before we get into the recipe, here’s some shots of what’s currently at where Green Beans was. It’s right outside of East Gate, which is also known as Eats Gate and Feast Gate for its many, many restaurants.
Now for the recipe:
Stir-fried Green Beans with Minced Pork （肉沫四季豆）
Serves 2.
This recipe was assembled, tested, and shot on video by TBC’s Director of HR, Molly Gu. Thanks, Molly!
Note from Molly: Always remember a secret to the successful cooking of any kind of minced meat (beef, pork, chicken, mutton) is Hot Wok and Cold Oil, which means heat the wok to very hot, turn the heat down to very low and stir fry the meat to brown until all water in the meat is vapored off. This way, the meat can absorb the flavor of all ingredients, so it tastes well.
As with lots of Chinese cooking, ingredient amounts are largely suggestions and up to the chef depending on personal preference.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
If you tried it, we would love to see! Tag us on social media @TheBeijingCenter or shoot us an email at communications@thebeijingcenter.org.
The past few weekends have been some of the most exciting of the entire semester, full of trips to the zoo, mountain hikes, ancient parks, and more! Our first trip out of many was a visit to the Beijing Zoo. I had mentioned earlier in the semester that I wanted to see some pandas, since I was in China after all, and our TBC friend Andy made it happen.
Spending a whole semester in Beijing, I knew I had to make the trip down south and check out Shanghai, and the city certainly lived up to the expectations. Everyone describes Shanghai as this super futuristic metropolis, and after spending a weekend there I understand why it has this reputation.