I hope you did not try to locate Jalan April Satu. (Read precious post)

I know I am suppose to cook up dishes, not stories. But once a year, we have an excuse to pull each others' legs. If it has whetted your appetite, you might as well try to make it yourself. Check the HYTF recipe here.

In this post, I will show you some simple dishes which you can create as an appetising side dish to a main meat dish.

Sambal "Kacang Botol" (Winged beans or 4 Corners Bean) is a popular dish in Malay cuisine.

Winged beans: I got this photo of the Net

As a creeper plant, they grow very easily on garden fences. As a child, I remembered seeing them in abundance on my home fences in my house in Petaling Jaya. They can be eaten fresh, accompanied by Sambal Chili and Cincalok (fermented shrimps).

This is all you need for the sauce:
Sambal Belachan Chili paste: You can used ready made bottled ones.
Dried Shrimps - the better quality ones are sweeter and have a good crunch.
Shallots - sliced.
Garlic - diced
Soy sauce to taste. A bit of sugar if you wish.

Light Salted Beans (Tau Cheong) can be added as an option. It is sometimes cooked with squid too.

To prepare the sauce:

1. A bit of oil in the heated wok. 
2. Add garlic and then, the chili paste, shallots and dried shrimps. Fry until fragrant.1-2 minutes will do.
3. Add the beans and do a quick fry (2-3 minutes will do). Add some soy sauce, and if necessary, splashes of water along the way.
4. Serve immediately.

Don't overfry the dish. Taste the beans or with experience, you can tell by looking at the colour. 

Sliced wing beans

Dried shrimps

Frying the garlic and shallots

It is better to use the younger oens which are nromally shorter and lighter in colour.

You can replace the wing beans with Lady Fingers or French Beans. Basically the same technique and recipe. Again, Lady Fingers which are younger has a better crunch. If the tips breaks off easily, you know they are good. French beans are very good too fried this way. 

Keep this dish simple. Don't overfry and don't use too many ingredients.

The version with Lady Fingers with added fried shallots