Green Beans Szechuan-style

Szechuan food is famously ‘hot’, spiced with chillies and Szechuan peppercorns, a reddish-brown aromatic with a distinctive flavour obtainable in Chinese stores. This simple treatment of green beans brings out their own flavour, through the pungent accompaniments. It would make a good follow-up to Peking Dumplings served with a little plain rice. I have adapted the recipe from one given by Ken Horn in The Taste of China.