Add a cup of water to the steel inner pot of the Instant Pot. Place a trivet and a steamer basket or a steel bowl over it.
Add the beans in the steamer basket/steel bowl.
Cover the lid, keep the vent in the sealing position, and pressure cook on high for 0 minutes.
When the Instant Pot beeps, release pressure by moving the vent carefully to the venting position. Remove the lid and mix well.
Remove the steamer basket carefully. You can serve the beans with salt and pepper or you could stir-fry them as shown below.
Sauteed Green Beans - Asian style
To stir fry the beans either you can use an Instant Pot (after draining the water and wiping it dry) or a stir-fry pan.
Add oil to a stir-fry pan placed over medium heat. Once the oil heats up, add ginger-garlic paste and saute it for about 20-30 seconds while stirring constantly making sure not to burn it.
Mix soy sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar, salt in a bowl and add them to the ginger garlic paste.
Add green beans and mix them in the sauce till they are evenly coated.
Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes in the sauce to allow the beans to absorb the flavors.
Garnish it with roasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Notes
You don't have to use the Instant Pot to cook the green beans, you can cover and cook them in the stir-fry pan. It should take about 6-8 minutes. I prefer the Instant Pot because it is hands-free.
Make sure to release pressure immediately once the cooking cycle is complete or the beans will overcook.
To retain the green color of the beans, put them in ice-cold water immediately after cooking them in the Instant Pot. Leave them for a couple of minutes, drain the water, and stir-fry as shown in the recipe.