Bahay Kubo Sauté
Say What? That must be your reaction upon reading the title of this post. Bear with me for a moment as I quote a few verses from a popular Filipino song:
Bahay kubo, kahit munti
Ang halaman doon say sari-sari
Singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani
Sitaw, bataw, patani
Translated into English, it reads:
The nipa hut, tiny as it may be
The plants are plenty and of many varieties
Turnips and eggplant, winged beans and peanuts
Green beans, hyacinth beans, lima beans
So one day, I went into a Filipino supermarket in San Jose and picked up the vegetables mentioned in the song. I couldn’t find hyacinth beans but I picked up some sugar peas which are closest to the hyacinth that I could find. Then I thought to myself, what if I came up with a recipe that had all the vegetables in the song as ingredients? Then I could name the dish Bahay Kubo! So here it is. It is a simple sautéed dish, cooked with bagoong, or shrimp paste. It’s pretty similar to pinakbet. It’s great as a side dish along with meat or fish over rice. As for me, I simply added some chicharones or pork rinds to make it my main dish. Oh, and I did throw in some okra as well.
INGREDIENTS
1 small turnip, peeled and sliced into thin strips
1 Chinese eggplant, cut into 2-inch (lengthwise) pieces
6 pieces winged beans, fully washed with tips cut off and discarded
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
1cup long green beans, cut into2-inch pieces
1/2 cup whole sugar peas (alternatively, you can use snow peas)
1/2 cup green lima beans
6 pieces okra
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsps Olive oil
2 tbsps shrimp paste
2 cups water
1/2 cup chicharones
DIRECTIONS
In a large wok, heat Olive oil in medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden brown. Add onions and cook until tender. Add the vegetables, starting with long beans, winged beans, okra and sugar peas. Stir for one minute. Add the eggplant and lima beans. Add water and stir in shrimp paste. Let simmer for 3 minutes or until all vegetables are tender but not overcooked. Add chicharones and peanuts and let stand for another minute (If you want your chicharones to remain crispy, add them only when the food is served). Remove from heat and transfer everything into a serving bowl. Top with turnip strips. Serve with steamed rice.
my bay kitchen 