Noodles and Rice

Chinese Yard Long Beans

by Stef on September 14th, 2006

These are frozen yard long beans, from my father’s garden. He sent them home with me last time we visited, and the minute we got home I put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Half of the beans were part of our dinner that night — cooked adobo style, something like this recipe from Pinoy Cook, but with only a fraction of the meat — I guess closer to this one from Karen. The other half was topped, tailed, and broken into 3-inch pieces by the kids. Blanched for 2 minutes in the boiling water, then drained immediately and refreshed briefly in ice water, then drained again — the remaining beans went into a plastic bag, most of the air pressed and suctioned out (my low-tech version of a Food Saver) and frozen. A week later I took them out and put them in a vegetable stew in coconut milk, like the ginataan recipes listed below. They were as good as fresh! Next year I will have my own garden once again and I can grow as much of these as I want!

What to do with yard-long beans? Here is a long list of ideas from my fellow Filipino food bloggers:

• Kalabasa at Sitaw sa Gata (Squash and String beans in Coconut Milk), from Lea Alissa - or try these versions: Mita’s, MarketMan’s, or Myra’s
• Betchay’s Adobong Sitaw with Tofu
• JMom’s Gising-Gising
• KC’s Tocino Fried Rice
• English Patis/Celia’s Pinakbet; here’s Watson’s version, Baby Rambutan’s, and another from Abaseria Cafe
• Lafang/Mike’s Celia’s Gisok (you figure that one out, ok?)
• Bucaio’s Apayas Tan Agyep
• Yax’s Pochero
• Amadeo’s Laswa with Pinakas

Want to learn more about this vegetable? Karen sorts out the Filipino names for us here.
Around the world, here are the names these beans go by.

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POSTED IN: Ingredient Spotlight