Adobong Sitaw

Adobong Sitaw is a Filipino Beans dish made by sautéing string beans with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, onion, tomatoes, pepper and water. In this adobong sitaw with pork belly we have added cut pork belly pieces to make it more yummy and will surely satisfy you! Whether you like your string beans soft or crunchy, these beans are sautéed gently together with crispy cuts of pork belly coated with the umami flavours from the oyster sauce. Packed with a lot of vitamins and minerals, this adobong sitaw with pork belly is a complete ulam and all there’s left to do is to grab your big bowl of hot steaming rice. Yum!

Adobong Sitaw with Pork Belly

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 bunches string beans
• 300 grams pork belly (cut into serving pieces)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 2 small tomatoes (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• Pepper to taste
• ½ cup water (adjust as needed)

Directions:

1. Harvest your string beans and then cut them into shorter sticks. Wash and rinse well.
2. Heat a pan and then add the pork belly slices (no oil). Sear the meat for a few minutes until it turns golden brown and oil has been rendered. 
3. Add the garlic, onions and tomatoes. Saute them for a few minutes until aromatic. Gently crush the tomatoes when sauteing.
4. Season with pepper and soy sauce. Add some water to help cook the pork (add more if needed).
5. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the pork is tender.
6. Add the string beans and the oyster sauce. Stir fry for a few minutes until well combined. Cover the pan and cook for a whole minute. Turn the heat off.
7. Transfer the stir fry string beans with pork belly to a serving plate. Enjoy this as a side dish or have this together with some hot and steaming rice. Yum!

BEANS AND LEGUMES

Aside from tofu, beans and legumes are the next best sources of proteins when it comes to veggies. They are a great meat alternative and can be grown outside of your home. For an adequate amount of protein, you can replace a slice of meat with 1/3 cup of beans or legumes. Other good sources of proteins includes peas and lentils.

There are over 130 variety of beans and string beans is just one of them. 

String beans or sitaw is one of the most common veggie you can see at the market. They are long in nature, usually around a yard, which is why it can also be called yard long beans. With the vast variety of beans, people are sometimes confused which is which. Let me share a quick guide for you to remember them easily.

• Kibal – the features of this veggie is almost similar to a sitaw, but the length is much shorter, and it is a bit thinner than the sitaw.

• Snap beans – called abitsuelas in tagalog. Commonly sauteed with other vegetables.

• Sigarilyas – called winged bean in english. The shape of this veggie is very distinct. It has a thin “wing-like” part. When cut, this veggie resembles a small cross.

• Green beans – are simply young unripe yardlong beans which are harvested early. They are crunchier when cooked. 

• Mung beans – Unlike the previous beans, only the beans inside this veggie is harvested for consumption. Mung beans is also one of the most famous beans in the country, commonly served as ginisang munggo.

HOW TO PLANT STRING BEANS AT HOME

What I love most with living in the province is the vast area where you can plant anything you want. Having a veggie garden is very helpful especially that food prices had gone up really high these past few days. Growing might take a while to harvest but the saying literally goes “kapag may itinanim, may aanihin”.

Ever since I learned how to plant veggies in the garden, I had been interested in trying out different veggies. As someone who cooks a lot, having the basic plants in the garden is a big help. Some of the plants I have outside are calamansi, sili, malunggay, okra and eggplant. They are very useful for everyday dishes or for condiments.

Some veggies I plant alternately includes the string beans, pechay and radish. After seeing an abundant string beans in the garden, I was really inspired to make some stir fry beans with pork belly. You can never go wrong with the freshness from the newly harvested string beans!

To plant a string bean, dig the soil up to 2 inches and then plant the seeds. Unlike other plants, the string beans is a vine. This means that it needs something to attach to as it grows. In our garden, we transformed our old sampayan into a wide pen. (It also provided shade when it grows!) You can prepare a simple climbing post or a triangular pen just to direct the string beans where to climb.

It might take around 50-60 days before your string beans produce the veggies. Meanwhile, you can try planting other veggies while waiting.

ADOBONG SITAW WITH PORK BELLY

Preparing some adobong sitaw pork belly is too easy that you can prepare it in less than half an hour.

Harvest your string beans from the garden or buy some from the market. The freshest veggies are available in the market usually during the early morning. Prepare the string beans. It is ideal cut into shorter sticks (around 2 inches), but you can slice them into small pieces if you like.

For a flavorful oil, sear the pork belly slices until it renders its natural oils. It’s also hitting two birds in one stone as this also cooks the pork. Then, saute the aromatics and season with pepper and soy sauce (you can also use oyster sauce if you like it sweeter).

To help the pork belly slices cook fully, add some water to soften the pork faster. Let it simmer until the pork is tender.

When the water has evaporated, you’ll hear a little sizzle again. That’s your signal to add the string beans and stir fry them. String beans are easy to cook so the stir frying might only take a few minutes. Don’t forget to add the oyster sauce.

When the pork and the string beans are fully cooked and well coated with the sauce, then it’s ready!

I love enjoying my stir fry string beans with pork belly as an appetizer to a heavy meal. But more often, I enjoy it as an ulam since it is a complete veggie and meat dish. Kanin nalang ang kulang! Yum!

Adobong Sitaw with Pork Belly Recipe (TAGALOG)

Ingredients:

• 2 – 3 bugkos ng sitaw
• 300 grams liempo (hiniwa sa serving pieces)
• 4 butil ng bawang (hiniwa)
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 2 maliit ng kamatis (hiniwa)
• 2 kutsarang toyo
• 2 kutsarang oyster sauce
• paminta
• ½ tasa ng tubig (dagdagan kung kailangan)

Paano Lutuin:

1. Anihin na ang mga sitaw galing sa hardin at hiwain ng sticks. Hugasan itong mabuti.
2. Magpainit ng kawali at ilagay ang liempo (walang mantika). Isangkutsa ang karne ng ilang minuto hanggang maging golden brown at magmantika.
3. Ilagay ang bawang, sibuyas at kamatis. Gisahin ang mga ito ng ilang minuto hanggang maging light brown. Medyo piratin ang kamatis habang ginigisa.
4. Budburan ito paminta at ilagay ang toyo. Lagyan ito ng tubig para lumambot ang baboy (dagdagan kung kailangan).
5. Takpan ang kawali at hayaan itong maluto ng 10 – 15 minuto o hanggang lumambot ang baboy.
6. Ilagay ang mga sitaw at ang oyster sauce. Istir fry ito ng ilang minuto. Takpan ang kawali at hayaan ito ng 1 minuto bago patayin ang apoy.
7. Ilipat ang stir fry sitaw with pork belly sa serving plate. Enjoyin ito bilang side dish o samahan ng mainit na kanin. Yum!