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Yard long beans.

Submitted by Blog - Henriette on 3 December, 2004 - 10:00
Blog categories: 
Recipes
Botanical name: 
Vigna unguiculata

Thai food: yard long beans.

I was at the food fair a couple of days ago, and found this wholesaler of exotics. They sold some of their produce to the general public, among them yard-long beans. These were in among some herbs, and they were all priced at €1.50 a bag - including half a kg (a pound) of these, so of course I bought some. (Actually, I bought one each of all their 1.5 € bags. Did you know that the oh so exotic "Horapa leaf" is just plain Thai basil? Me neither.) (They didn't sell their exotic fruit at all; I'll have to buy one of each one of these days, downtown, from one or the other large deli.)

Photo: Vigna unguiculata 1. I boiled them up just like I do green beans in general: chop up some onions, add some oil and salt, cut the beans to bite-sized bits, add water, and boil until soft. Serve with a dash of butter and lots'n'lots of chopped-up parsley. Yum! They taste quite like normal green beans, but they have a great advantage: they don't have any strings at all.

I don't expect I'll find them again, but if I do, and they're halfway affordable, I'll buy more.

Comments

Submitted by persimmon (not verified) on 3 December, 2004 - 22:00.

oh, oh! Boiled long beans are wonderful with a smidge of fermented tofu or stir-fried with ginger, garlic, soy sauce and fermented black beans. Or pan-fried 'til they blister with garlic, red chile and salt. Or sauteed in butter with onions over pasta.

I agree, the the no-strings is a nice benefit, but my favourite is not having to snip several hundred bean-ends.

Submitted by Henriette on 4 December, 2004 - 12:03.

Right, I'll grow some of these, next year. Seeds are available, so that's no problem.

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