Side Challenge - Stir-Fried Green Beans with Pork and Chilies

Last weekend, the house reached 80 degrees or more, which made shopping for food increasingly difficult. Nothing sounds good when you're hot. I perused my cookbooks for a main-course salad, but nothing appealed to me. Then I turned to stovetop meals. Bingo. Madhur Jaffrey's stir fry seemed just the thing and the Thai recipe fortunately wasn't too similar to our recent Indian feast. Normally, I'd wait until local green beans were available at the Farmer's Market, but my impatience landed me with grown-in-Mexico produce instead. Fortunately, the Northwest bounty seems to be ripening early this year, so I may not have to wait much longer.

• 1 1/4 lbs. green beans
• 12 to 16 garlic cloves (I only used 8-9, since mine were fairly large)
• 6-9 fresh hot green or red chilies
• 5 T vegetable oil
• 10 oz. lean pork, ground
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1 t dark brown sugar
• 3 T fish sauce

Wash and trim the beans, then cut into 1/3- to 1/2-inch pieces. Peel the garlic and chop it finely. Cut the chilies into very thin slices.

Heat the oil in a wok set over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the garlic and chilies. Stir-fry until the garlic turns golden, then add the pork. Stir and fry, breaking up any lumps until the pork no longer looks raw.

Put in the green beans, paprika, sugar, fish sauce, and 1 1/4 c. water. Stir and cook on medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until the beans are tender and most of the water has been absorbed.

I served this with rice, though I suspect quinoa or couscous would also work well.