Lasang Pinoy 18: Kamangyang
Or Kamangian.
That’s how we Kapampangans call our beloved sitaw (or string beans or long beans, if you’re in english-speaking territory). When we moved here to the US, I had the misfortune of moving to a State where sitaws were only intermittently sold in our suking oriental store. Sometimes, I’d have to wait weeks before sitaw became available. In its absence, I’ve learned to substitute green beans for it – Sinigang with green beans, Kare-kare with green beans, Pinakbet with green beans . It worked, I guess, but it wasn’t the same.
It’s my first time to join the Lasang Pinoy challenge and, for it’s 18th round, Toni is rounding up gastronomically titillating entries starring: veggies!
I am not like my Daras (Aunts), who have the natural, uncanny, talent of turning any edible thing into a meal fit for any piyesta. Even something as simple as a sitaw leaves lasting memories both in the tummy and in the heart.
While I was growing up, sitaw was only one of the three gulays I would eat (the other two were kangkong and repolyo). I loved helping to cut the beans into those pretty two-inchers. Snap, snap, snap! Sometimes, I would take a bungkos of sitaw and pretend that it was a pom-pom. Or a wig. Or a walis tingting. Or a grass skirt. Or I would pin it like a tail on my brother – the donkey.
Life in the province was hard. It was quite seldom that we had any meat as part of our diet, so we mostly had fish (fresh from the river or pond) and paired with some veggie plucked from the backyard. And because I loved sitaw, my aunts wouldn’t think twice about cooking a side of adobong kamangyang, just for me. With mainit na kanin and crispy fried galunggong or tilapia, it’s enough to guarantee my return visit to the province, oh, every weekend.
The recipe is pretty simple and straighforward: just sautee garlic and lots of onions, add soy sauce, then throw in the 2-inch sitaws, and a sandok-full of vinegar. Kulo, kulo! That’s it.
They even save some kamangyang for themselves to boil in water, together with eggplants and ampalaya, as a perfect partner of buro or balo-balo (fermented something that smells like it needs rexona or something).
On special occasions, guisadong sitaw awaits me: kamangyang and little pork pieces sauteed to perfection. Sarap!
I can very well say that every inch of sitaw equals every warm yummy homecoming I’ve ever had. Home, as only my lovely aunts could make it.
I have to apologize, though, I don’t have a picture to share with you right now because sitaws are currently banned from our house. The last time we were in Pinas, the doctors found out that hubby had very high (really, really high) uric acid levels in his system. The first thing to avoid on the list: kamangyang (and other beanie veggies). I guess, even if gulays are good for the health, too much of a good thing isn’t really good either.
Now, we can’t even have sitaw in our Sinigang, Kare-kare, and Pakbet. If it felt weird with the green beans before, now it just feels kulang (like singing Bahay Kubo without sitaw in the lyrics, doesn’t it feel all wrong?). If we continue on like this, how would Ninna learn to find the joy in nibbling on sitaw? As it is, she will only eat kangkong and repolyo.
So maybe this is why I wrote about sitaw, because I (subconsciously) miss it.
Hmmm, maybe I need a new wig…
MrsWorkingGirl :: May.23.2007 :: MeMeMee :: 17 Comments »
This is brilliant! Awwww thanks Mee. I see sitaw differently now. Can’t you have sitaw in the household strictly for Ninna? Para naman she can share in your memories of the veggie!
I agree with Toni. Most of the time I cook for 3 people only, hubby and our son. Minsan iba-iba pa ang gusto naming kaining pagkain. Say… atay ng manok. They hate it. So I cook a portion just for me sometimes. And the way they like their egg? OMG! Hehehehe and the list goes on….
By the way, we (the 3 of us) love adobong sitaw!
O/T:
my father’s side of the family is from pampanga and i never learned how to speak it. konti, as in, konting words lang.
di na din pwede si hubby sa monggo, i presume? pareho sila ni J, limited na lalo ang food choices. :)
nice lasang pinoy entry!!! hubs and i love sitaw, too! sauteed sitaw with beef, pork or shrimp.. sarap!
i need to work on my LP entry soon!
meeya, dalagang bukid ka pala talaga! hindi ko alam! basta ang alam ko taga bulacan ka. ;)
i was looking for sitaw last sunday when we went grocery shopping. isasama ko siyempre sa sinigang. i know sitaw is string beans. green beans ang dinampot ko kasi it looks exactly like sitaw only shorter at wala naman kasi talagang sitaw. nyek, iba pala yun! hay, baka another “a hen is not a chicken” na naman ‘to! :D
Baka magkarayuma ka nyan ha?
In HK, they cook their sitaw, kangkong, or anything green in steam or pinakulo lang at bubuhusan na lang sya ng “oyster sauce”. Pero mas gusto ko pa rin ang bicolano way of cooking sitaw (yung maliliit), ginisa sa toyo at bawang lang.
Syet masarap kumain ng nakakamay lang.
when i was a kid i didn’t like veggies that much too! i only ate kangkong (from sinigang), repolyo (from bulalo) and guess what?! sitaw (from sinigang too!)! :)
hi mia,
kapampangan ka pala? i’m from san fernando, certified kapampangan all the way :)
i love sitaw also, ginisa or adobo. my daughter loves it too.
Sitaw, like all other bean vegetables, is the 1st to be banned from a person’s (with high uric acid levels) diet. Hay, kung ano ang masarap, yun naman ang bawal…
:D
Hi, we love sitaw too! And yes, it is so good simply cooked, just guisado and a couple of seasoning agents….
I’ve been doing a bit of research into gout because it runs in the family as well (luckily I haven’t been afflicted by it, but I’m nearing 40 so I’m looking into staving it off for a while…) — and I just thought I’d mention that I’ve found conflicting information. Though many will tell you that beans are a no-no, some sources, such as the one linked below, point to other (worse) high-purine causes for gout. Notice that beans appear way down on the list.
http://www.goutpal.com/foods-high-in-uric-acid.html
I still have to read up more, but just in case this may make a difference for you…. maybe just stay away from the other items high up on the list? Of course your doctor knows best. But I know how difficult it is to give up things that we love, and especially so when they’re supposed to be good for us in the first place, such as veggies! My mom loves asparagus, mushrooms and eggplant and she stays away from those now, which is sad.
Although, some people may not be happy about theobromine being at the top of the list, either…
At any rate, just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your entry!
hi meeya!
count me in! even when i was a kid, i liked sitaw too! esp. the simplicity of ginisang sitaw…yumm!
meeya, hi, i hear you, hey the thought is there even if there was no photo.
My Lola used to complain of the same thing! She’s also Kapampangan and she couldn’t find sitao in Texas. I remember she attempted to smuggle sitao (and other veggies) seeds after one visit to the Philippines. She got nervous and dumped them in a trash can at the last minute, forgetting she was already on American soil and had already passed the immigration check. ^_^;;
Hi Meeyagirl. Thanks for visiting my LP. In response to your comments: I haven’t tasted Patani with Tuyo before. Sounds like a very interesting combination. People say I’m “maputi” but not in the way that you can consider me mestiza. I guess kulang pa ang kain ng labanos ng mom ko nung naglilihi sya sa akin. :)
Thanks for sharing your LP 18. I’m fond of sitaw too. It’s so easy to take it for granted because it’s easily found in the Phil. market. I didn’t realize how others like yourself find it a little difficult to find them. I do hope that your husband’s uric acid level will become normal so you could enjoy dishes with sitaw again.
bukod sa puso ng saging, this is next on my list sa kare-kare. di bale walang talong…kare-kare can go on without talong, but not the 2. :D
What a great story of reminiscing. When I was smaller, I wasn’t a big fan of any vegetable . So when I started to taste kare-kare, I even learnt how to cook it, I was hooked on sitaw as well. Your recipe is simple and sounds really delicious. I should try this one day.
great entry for your first Lasang Pinoy! I love sitaw too, and I’m trying to grow it in my garden. I’m crossing my fingers I will be eating my fill by summer time.