Stir-Fried Spicy Pork Shreds with Chinese Cabbage and Peanuts

When I was in graduate school, I was treated to dinner one night in the kitchen of one of the wilder, shadowy guys in the department, who aside from a droll sense of humor had the added distinction of being a cook. His name was Robert Delfs; he later wrote a nifty book called The Good Taste of Szechwan. This is more or less what we had for dinner that night, embellished by my years of California living.

A variety of string beans (tiny Blue Lakes, yellow wax beans, Chinese lon