Vegetarian Sichuan Greens Beans with Mushrooms (MBR)

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (such as Shaoxing) or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, minced
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger
• 3 scallions, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mise en place for my 200th blog entry.  I went with the mushroom rather than pork version of the recipe because I thought it would be easier to get in the ballpark of 1/4 pound of mushrooms than 1/4 pound of pork.  Still an awful lot of mushrooms.

Heat most of the oil except for 1 teaspoon over high heat.  Cook beans until crisp-tender and blackened in spots.

Cook mushrooms with remaining oil until softened (huh?).  Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant.

Toss and cook with sauce (basically everything from the soy sauce to the dry mustard I'll eventually have to toss nearly a full container of).  Stir in scallions and the sesame sauce I somehow forgot.

All in all a pretty good version of a dish I'll often order in its takeout manifestations.  Doesn't mean I'll stop doing so.

Lo mein however is something that often gives me displeasure in its locally available forms.  Not so much this.