Pork and green bean red curry stir fry is an aromatic and appetizing dish that goes well with steamed rice. The dish is simple, healthy, and great for a quick dinner or a packed lunch. The pork is tender and moist, with a piquant and tangy flavor. If you cook a lot and cannot finish it immediately, no worries at all. The leftovers taste even better after a quick heat-up in the microwave!
This dish was inspired by the pork and green bean curry stir fry that I had in a Thai restaurant when I was traveling in southern California. The tender pork slices and crisp green beans were perfectly seasoned with a sweet and spicy curry sauce. The dish was so appetizing and went great with steamed white rice.
I had never tried to use Thai curry in a stir fry, but I was intrigued by the flavor and ventured to re-create it in my kitchen last weekend. The recipe was adapted from the chicken red curry stir fry recipe from Serious Eats, but I made a few tweaks to make the dish even tastier.
Here is a list of things to keep in mind when cooking this dish.
- Use low heat when frying the curry paste to avoid burning it.
- Cook the green beans long enough to ensure they’re cooked through (green beans contain a mild toxin when raw). If the beans are large and tough, add water into the skillet, cover, and simmer, to steam the beans and expedite the process.
- Cook pork (or chicken or beef) separately at first in order to get the most tender and juicy result.
- Lower the heat when adding the sauce in the final cooking step to avoid burning the sauce.
- Blend a small amount of water into the sauce to avoid burning the sauce.
Although I used pork in the recipe, do feel free to replace it with chicken or beef. No matter which type of meat you choose to use here, you should always use a tender cut to achieve better stir fry results. For example, I prefer using chicken legs or beef tenderloin. Also, it might seem like a lot of trouble to cook the meat separately, but it’s a necessary step in producing moist and tender meat. If you follow my recipe exactly, not only will the freshly cooked pork have a great texture, but even the reheated leftovers will be soft and juicy!
I also created a short video below to walk you through the stir frying process. Enjoy!
Don’t forget to check out my cooking channel on YouTube. I have a collection of videos that focuses on Chinese cooking, in order to help you to get the idea of how to cook Chinese dishes at home within no time!
Curry Pork and Green Beans Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 100 grams pork tenderloin , sliced (2 millimeters or 1/12 inch thick)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or rice wine)
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (or light soy sauce)
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 250 grams (1/2 pound) green beans
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 tablespoon garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger , minced
- 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
Instructions
- Place pork slices into a small bowl and add shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, and cornstarch. Mix with fingers until the liquid is fully absorbed and the pork is evenly coated and feels sticky. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Combine fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- To prepare green beans, start by snapping off the tough ends. Chop each bean into 2 to 3 pieces and make sure that all the pieces are about the same length.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil into a nonstick skillet and heat over medium high heat. When oil is warm, add pork into skillet, spreading the pork to a thin layer (with a spatula or chopsticks). Let pork cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the bottom side has turned golden brown. Stir and flip each piece to cook the other side. When both sides are browned, but the meat is still pink inside, turn to lowest heat, transfer the pork to a plate, and set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of oil into skillet. Add ginger and garlic. Stir a few times until fragrant. Add red curry paste and stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add green beans and turn to medium heat. Stir 3 to 5 minutes, until the beans are evenly coated with curry paste. Add half cup of water into the skillet to steam the green beans and cook them more quickly. Continue to stir until the beans are cooked through.
- Add pork back into skillet, along with the fish sauce mixture. Turn to medium high heat and stir immediately to mix everything well. When the sauce has thickened, after about 1 minute, stop heat and transfer everything to a large plate.
- Serve warm over steamed rice.
Wow Maggie, this looks amazing! So delicious, better than take-out, and it seems pretty easy too! When were you traveling around SoCal? Are you coming back? I’d love to have lunch with you if you are ever around here again! Thanks for another great recipe idea. Pinning!
Thanks Meggan! I went to SoCal this February for a short trip. Yes, I will definitely go back, maybe next year. Really like that area and I have friends there too. Yes, let’s definitely have lunch together next time! You live in LA right?
I love the flavors in this stir fry! Green beans are one of my favorite veggies and I love the sound of everything in here – so tasty and definitely can’t wait to try this – pinning:)
Thanks for sharing Kelly! I love eating green beans too, good flavor and very healthy. Glad you like this one 🙂
My love for this dish has no bounds. It looks like something I could eat very frequently.
Thanks Michelle! Glad you like this one! 🙂
Hi Maggie. Made this last night and it was spectacular. My absolute favorite green bean dish ever. Tomorrow am making Three Cup Chicken and on Sunday your Mom’s Best Gravy Noodles. it’s a Maggie week.
Hi David, you just made my day! I’m so glad to hear you like my recipe and will try a few more! Happy cooking and let me know how the dishes turn out 🙂
I made this dish following the recipe exactly and it was inedible. Way overpowering and too strong. I think your measurements are way off. Have you actually tried making this dish following your recipe? I mean, 100g of meat isn’t very much yet the recipe calls for a full Tbsp of rice wine, cornstarch, fish sauce, oyster sauce and red curry paste. The proportions here just seem way off, resulting in a dish that is inedible. Im sorry but this is not a good recipe. You’ve been warned.
Didn’t quite have all the ingredients but was able to adapt, to get a dish I enjoyed along with a warm curry glow in my mouth.
Thank you
This is a fabulous recipe! I made it, as I usually do with your recipes, exactly as you direct and it was wonderful. Yours is my favorite recipe website, and I probably search your site twice a week or more when I am looking for good food. Thank you, and very best wishes on being recognized as a brilliant, influential chef. I’m rooting for you.