I do a lot of stir frying, because it is a quick way to eat random vegetables that happen to be in my refrigerator, and it’s kind of impossible to screw up. I always just kind of throw things in the pan and don’t ever measure anything, but when I stumble upon a good combination I feel the need to write it down for future reference (for example, I now refer to this post about broccoli and TVP fairly often because I can never remember what I put in it). So:

[0. Start making some rice or noodles to eat this with once you’re done.]

1. Chop or press a couple cloves of garlic; sautee it in a small amount of peanut oil.

2. Throw a bunch of green beans in there (I pretty much fill the small cast-iron pan that I use, and that’s enough for two people). If you are like me, you have a giant bag of frozen green beans from Costco sitting in your freezer and you just eat green beans all the time because green beans are amaaaaaazing. So anyway these beans were frozen but this would probably work just fine with fresh ones, you just might cook them for less time. Stir the beans in the oil so they don’t stick, then cover it and leave it on medium-low heat while you get the other ingredients out of the fridge.

3. Add some (maybe a teaspoon?) curry paste. I bought this kind a long time ago to use in this super good recipe I got from my friend Katie. This paste doesn’t seem to ever go bad, which is good because I’ve been cooking from the same container of it for like two years and I’ve barely made a dent in it. (It is also good in egg salad.) And some website I just saw says it’s Mae Ploy’s only curry paste that does not have shrimp sauce in it, which makes this recipe vegan. If you care about these things.

4. Add a variable (but small!) amount of chili paste, according to your desired spiciness level. I keep sambal oelek around because it’s an ingredient in my mother’s pad thai recipe. A little goes a long way. Like, if you put a 1/2 tsp of this stuff in this dish that serves two people, after one bite your head will literally turn into a cartoon steam whistle. I would say that I put less than 1/4 tsp and it is plenty spicy. Stir the beans up so they are covered in the seasonings.

5. Cook it for a while, stirring it every once in a while. I find that about 10-15 minutes on the low end of medium heat makes the beans tender but still a little crunchy, which is the best texture for green beans.

6. Eat it! (with rice or noodles. I prefer rice.)