Beans

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

It was one of those kitchen accidents that you’re glad happened. The meat in the good old stew of balatong uyas – native beans – and camote tops was still tough even after two hours of simmering, so I  took out the greens and returned the meat and beans to the stove after lunch, and kept them there. Two more hours of simmering and the meat was properly tender – and the beans were almost mushy.

This was how I found out that the native beans, cooked some more time than we usually do, can even be more delicious than they usually are. A dash of balsamic and a few droplets of olive oil, and I thought who cares for lentils now when we can have native beans this good…and cheap?

Indeed, I thought, how many of our local food resources are still just waiting for the right timing, or perhaps, temperature? How many of them have remained the way they were served as during the time of our great grandparents? I’ve eaten balatong uyas since way back I can remember, and it was always cooked just until it was tender to the bite, never beyond.

Have we ever stopped to consider that maybe okra cooked in other ways may release some hidden flavors? Or the alogbate: does it always have to be served in stews? Ditto the tambo, or bamboo shoots; they don’t always have to be shaved or pickled, do they?

Even with our fish, we have a simple fry-boil-broil formula. This is good because the simpler the cooking methods, the better we keep the integrity of the fish flavors. But keeping them in that old routine may also have prevented them from releasing their other glorious flavors, depriving us with new taste adventures.

I don’t know with others, maybe some people out there do cook native beans to mush. My point in sharing this is not to claim some patent or even some I-did-it-first bragging rights; my point is, there is still a lot of room for our local food resources to be tapped and I hope we all realize how, by realizing those potentials, there is tremendous gains to be had. Well, offhand, I can point out how increased demand of the native beans can boost farmers incomes, save our dollars by cutting our reliance on imported beans such as lentils, and hey, help save our environment.

These local resources do not require transport, thus we save fossil fuels and lessen the gasses we spew to the atmosphere when we move products from country to country. It is also healthier; because they are consumed right away, they do not require preservatives, and they reach our kitchens fast enough with their vitamins and minerals still in full flowering.

This, of course, is what they call the locavore lifestyle: relying on plants and meat produced within our own communities.

Beans come to fore in the next few days as we go meatless for the Holy Days. They are a protein source and can be a healthy alternative to meat. Of course, we’ve always had mongo, which we use in a whole range of dishes.

The other day, I saw mounds of freshly shelled beans we call patani in the dialect and curious as to what other ways can be done with them, I asked the vendor. You can try them with pork legs and green jackfruit slices, she said. That’s really our iconic KBL, Kadios Baboy Langka, but using patani instead of the black peas. Doesn’t that sound interesting…and telling of how much more possibilities there are for our native edibles?

It is time to look at our everyday food resources and find new ways to use them. This isn’t the age of culinary adventures for nothing, and we aren’t Negrenses if we can’t whip out the extraordinary from the ordinary.*

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