I was
introduced to wing beans late in life. I remember it pretty well – it was an
office lunch, a potluck, and one of my Malay colleagues contributed an interesting
Asian salad. Its sauce was fairly typical:
prawn paste (hei go), crushed peanut, assam juice, and chili sambal; quite
similar to rojak. But the combination of greens was intriguing. There was
turnip, pineapple, ginger flower, guava, snake fruit, and of course, wing beans.
Just like
aragula, wing beans contribute a surprising, refreshing “green” taste, and a hint
of bitterness. Wing beans basically add depths of sweetness and a hint of "rawness" to any veggy cocktail, and because of that, I fell
in love with it. Nowadays I like wing beans however it’s done -- in salads or
simply fried with belachan.
When a
Hong Kong newspaper asked me for a Singapore recipe for their Singapore
supplement, I contributed the one below without hesitation.
Wing Bean
Salad
Wing bean 1
cup
Long bean ½
cup, blanched in hot water
Cucumber ¼
cup, cubed
Red chili 2,
sliced thickly
Onion ½,
sliced thickly
Garnishing:
Fried shallots 2
tbsp
Dried shrimps 2
tbsp, soaked and deep fried
Coriander 1
sprig, sliced
Salad Sauce (mixed thoroughly):
Sriracha 3
tbsp
Tomato 1
tbsp
Peanut oil ¼
cup
Calamansi juice 1
tbsp
Sugar ½
tbsp
Salt ¼
tsp
White pepper ¼
tsp
Durian 3
seeds, deseeded
Calamansi 2,
juiced
Sugar 1/3
tbsp
Salt a
pinch
Method
1.
Assemble all ingredients in a
mixing bowl.
2.
Pour salad sauce slowly and toss
with the ingredients until it is sufficiently wet.
3.
Spoon the salad in a serving bowl
and top with the garnishings.