Recipe: Ginataang Sigarilyas (Coconut Cream Winged Beans)

Guinataang sigarilyas. Mmmmmm. I haven't had it for so long until I went back home to Manila and had it at the Kanin Club in Technohub in UP Diliman. I know how the vegetable looks like and of course, we all know it from the "Bahay Kubo" song. I gave Kanin Club's version a great review and even described it as a "delight" because of its creaminess mixed with the brine flavors associated with bagoong.

You see as Chinese Filipino we may be, we are also a "Bicolano" family. Okay, so we are not in the depths of Bicolandia like those that in Camarines Sur (Naga), Albay (Legazpi) or Sorsogon (Irosin) and more so in the towns between these major cities of the region. But my father grew up in Labo, Camarines Norte -- so that must count for something though "hard-core" Bicolanos criticize us that we are more in Tagalog skirts rather in "real" Bicol. But we still love our coconut cream based dishes and such account for a significant number of the dishes served in our household.

I finally found Sigarilyas or commonly known as "Winged Beans" (Psophocarpus tetrogonolobus) in an Asian store recently and since the taste somewhat lingers on in my taste memory, I just have to make it. With newly steamed white rice, coconut cream sigarilyas is perfect. Imagine a meaty mixture of mildly caramelized coconut cream (latik) with shrimp paste, green chillies and ginger, rightfully reduced with the crunch of sigarilyas with its mildly bitter yet pleasant taste. This is what this dish is all about! It's a Bicolano wet dream!

Ginataang Sigarilyas (Winged Beans in Coconut Cream flavored with Shrimp Paste and Chilies)

Ingredients.

• 1/2 pound Sigarilyas
• 1/4 pound pork (preferably fatty cut such as shoulder of belly) 
• 1/2 head garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 thumb sized ginger, peeled and flattened with the side of a heavy knife)
• 2 tbsp. bagoong
• 1 package frozen Philippine Coconut milk (available in the freezer aisle as Masagana brand), thawed
• 1 green chili sliced diagonally (can also use jalapeno)
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Procedure.

1. In a very hot wok, with 1/8 cup of oil, sauté the garlic and ginger together until mildly brown. Add the meat and sauté further until almost done. Then add the shrimp paste and the coconut milk and simmer until mildly reduced and the coconut oils are beginning to appear.
2. Add the sigarilyas and the green chilies, cover and further simmer until the vegetable is done to desired crispness. Serve with hot rice.

Tips.

• The kind of coconut cream is important! Being a resident of the United States, it is difficult to get good coconut cream and what I mean by this is that when it is reduced in heat, two things will be produced: oil and the caramelized solids (latik). I notice that powdered coconut cream does not do this, nor do the canned ones from Jamaica, Puerto Rico or Thailand. I even tried to grate coconuts from Puerto Rico which look like the reject coconuts that fall off the tree in Bicol and appear like shrunken heads from a voodoo ceremony -- with pointed tops and bottoms -- just so I could extract the milk and hopefully get oils and latik. Not only is it rancid, but there was not much milk nor oil. Truly a disappointment despite my best efforts procuring the equipment. But hooray for Masagana! I just found out that for double the price of canned Thai coconut milk, even less, I could get frozen Philippine coconut milk and the freezer aisle of the Asian store and guess what?! It's perfect!!!
• I could not emphasize the sautéing process needs to be in high heat using a wok. The smokiness of a very hot wok is helpful in giving out flavor.
• I reduce the coconut cream a bit before putting in the vegetables because I do not want to have so much liquids that might make the vegetables soggy during the sauce reduction. However, if one wants a softer sigarilyas, one is welcome to put in the vegetable earlier.