Pad Sataw (Stink Beans)
Toad Sataw
Pad Sataw (ผัดสะตอ) is a dish from the south of Thailand. There are many exotic Thai dishes, but you should definitely try this one. You almost fall off your chair at how surprisingly delicious this dish is.
Pad sataw may have a strange name, because this dish from southern cuisine is also called stink bean or bitter bean. Don't be put off by this name. The small beans grow like peas in a pod, but they are very tasty and their texture is special. The dish has a strong taste (slightly bitter), a wonderful aroma and is slightly peppery.
Pad sataw is prepared with Sataw beans and shrimp or pork. Other ingredients include: garlic, green pepper, sweet basil, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, curry paste and chili paste. Freshly steamed rice completes the dish.
Pad Sataw is an exceptional dish
Known among Thai cuisine enthusiasts as an exceptional dish, Pad Sataw is a culinary masterpiece that embodies the unique flavors and traditions of Thailand. This dish combines the unmistakable flavor of Sataw (known in English as 'stink bean' or 'bitter bean') with a variety of other ingredients, resulting in a taste experience that is both intriguing and delicious.
Origin and history
Pad Sataw has its roots in southern Thailand, a region known for its rich and spicy flavors, often enhanced by the use of fresh herbs and spices. Sataw, or Parkia speciosa, is a legume that grows in bunches on trees in this region. The beans are known locally for their characteristic smell, which not everyone appreciates, but they are a beloved ingredient in Southern Thai cuisine. Over the centuries, Pad Sataw has emerged as a dish that locals prepare both at home and enjoy in restaurants, celebrating the unique flavors and textures of the region.
Particularities
What sets Pad Sataw apart is not only the addition of the stink beans, but also the way these are combined with other ingredients such as shrimp, pork, or chicken, and a spicy sauce that often consists of chili, garlic, shallots, and sometimes shrimp paste. This combination of ingredients creates a rich mix of flavors that are characteristic of Thai cuisine: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.
Flavor profiles
The taste of Pad Sataw is unique and complex. The sataw beans themselves have a slightly bitter and nutty taste, with a very distinctive odor that is often described as 'smelly'. When these beans are combined with the heat of the chili, the umami of the shrimp paste, and the freshness of other herbs and spices, it creates a dish that has depth and intensity. The beans also add an interesting texture to the dish; they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Ingredients list for Pad Sataw for 4 people
Main ingredients:
- 400 grams of sataw beans (stink beans), peeled
- 200 grams of shrimp, cleaned and peeled
- 200 grams pork belly, thinly sliced (optional, can be replaced with chicken or tofu for a vegetarian version)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
Herbal paste:
- 10 small Thai chili peppers (adjust to taste)
- 5 shallots, peeled
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 teaspoon shrimp paste (optional, but adds depth to the flavor)
garnish:
- Some fresh coriander leaves
- Slices of red chili (for extra color and spice)
Preparation method
Preparation Herb Paste
- Making herb paste: Place the chili peppers, shallots, garlic, and shrimp paste in a mortar. Mash into a fine paste. You can also use a food processor for convenience.
To cook:
- Heat the oil: Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok or frying pan over medium heat.
- Bake the spice paste: Add the spice paste to the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes, or until aromatic. Stir regularly to prevent burning.
- Add the meat: Add the pork belly slices (or your chosen protein) and cook until the meat is almost done, about 3-4 minutes. If using shrimp, add them later as they cook faster.
- Add shrimp: Add the shrimp and cook until pink and just cooked through, about 2 minutes.
- Add sataw beans: Add the sataw beans and stir-fry. The beans only require a short preparation time; they must remain crispy.
- Add sauce: Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and dark soy sauce. Mix well and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until heated through.
- Taste and adjust: Taste the dish and adjust the seasoning with additional fish sauce or sugar if necessary.
To serve:
- To serve: Spoon the Pad Sataw onto a serving plate and garnish with fresh coriander leaves and red chili slices.
- To serve: Serve hot with steamed rice for a complete meal.
Tips
- Adjust taste: The intensity of the chili peppers can be adjusted to taste. Start with less and add more if you like it spicy.
- Vegetarian version: Replace the meat and seafood with tofu and use soy sauce instead of fish sauce for a vegetarian version.
- Flavor depth: The use of shrimp paste adds a unique depth to the dish, but can be left out if you can't find it.
Enjoy this delicious and unique taste of Southern Thailand!
About this blogger
-
Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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These stink beans are for sale in NL in every Indonesian shop under the name peteh beans.
My wife occasionally makes this dish with variations in the seasoning. I think it's dellicious.
Dear Editor,
I definitely know this dish and taste very good but, as my wife these delicious beans
as a snack I am permeated by the garlic smell the next morning.
The only disadvantage of this dish is that you will smell good the next day.
'Now and never' I will eat broad beans (terribly bitter) but with this dish the beans are
not predominant.
Nice tip.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
My girlfriend is from the south, Songkhla, so these beans are a regular on the table. Raw or in a dish. Delicious
Namesake, my wife is also from the South. Hat Yai.
This is also regularly found on our table.
Delicious and very healthy, actually tastes the same as Cha om.
Both delicious, taste and smell, I want to eat every day.
I love it and the stink beans also go in other dishes. It smells a bit but it can make our cleaning lady from Isaan nauseous. The same applies to me for the pla ra from Isaan, which is also proven to be unhealthier. To each his own.
Slightly bitter? 5555 When I tasted the dish, I did not know the Dutch translation. But precisely because the taste was so distinct, I started looking for more information and discovered that they are - more than rightly - called bitter beans.
Personally, I find this dish interesting, but especially in combination with the shrimp paste, it becomes too much for me after a few bites.
Here are 2 recipes from my teaching materials for vegetarian cuisine.
Unfortunately, the clear layout was lost
Sambal beans with peteh beans
Ingredients for 4-5 people.
200 g green beans
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
sesame or coconut oil
2 green peppers
2 red peppers
5 Peteh beans
½ tsp sereh (lemongrass powder)
1 tsp galangal
1 tsp gula Djawa or coconut blossom sugar
½ tsp tamarind puree
100 ml coconut milk
100 g coconut milk
3 tbsp water
Method:
Chop the shallots, garlic and peppers finely.
Cut the beans into coarse pieces.
Halve the peteh beans or leave them whole.
Mix with the lemongrass, galangal and asem.
Heat the oil in a wok and fry the mixture for 3 minutes.
Then add the water together with the salt, the chopped beans and the halved peteh beans.
Stew the beans until done, then add the coconut milk and santen and let it fry gently until the liquid has evaporated and the oil is released. Chop the shallots, garlic and peppers very finely.
Cut the beans into coarse pieces.
Halve the peteh beans or leave them whole.
Mix with the lemongrass, galangal and asem.
Heat the oil in a wok and fry the mixture for 3 minutes.
Then add the water together with the salt, the chopped beans and the halved peteh beans.
Stew the beans until done, then add the coconut milk and santen and let it fry gently until the liquid has evaporated and the oil is released. Chop the shallots, garlic and peppers very finely.
Cut the beans into coarse pieces.
Halve the peteh beans or leave them whole.
Mix with the lemongrass, galangal and asem.
Heat the oil in a wok and fry the mixture for 3 minutes.
Then add the water together with the salt, the chopped beans and the halved peteh beans.
Stew the beans until done, then add the coconut milk and santen and fry gently until the liquid has evaporated and the oil is released.
Comments:
Of course, fresh lemongrass and galangal can also be used. Take 2 stalks of sereh, bruise them and tie a knot in them. Cut about 3 cm of galangal into slices and add both together with the beans.
It is also possible to cut the shallots, garlic, peppers, lemongrass and galangal into small pieces and pound them intensively with a little liquid or process them with a food processor until a paste is formed. This paste (curry) is seared and further processed according to the recipe.
Traditionally, some trassi (shrimp paste) is also processed.
When copying the “method” from my recipe file, some of the text ended up twice in the blog. Sorry for the confusion.
Sayur Lodeh with tempeh and peteh beans
Ingredients for 4-5 people.
2 liters of water
1 cassava, cut into cubes
200 g long beans
125 g rebung (bamboo shoots)
75 g peteh beans
½ pack of tempeh
250 g pointed cabbage
1 young nangka (jackfruit)
2 salam leaves (Indon. “laurel”)
5 shallots
3 small cloves of garlic
2 red peppers
2 green peppers
2 tsp asem (tamarind puree)
½ block of santen
salt and oil
for the bumbu:
3 kemirie nuts
3 cm galangal
2 tsp ketumbar (ground coriander)
3 rawits (small red chili peppers)…possibly without
1 tsp gula Jawa (or very sweet)
Method:
Bring the water to the boil in a pan with some salt. Cut the pointed cabbage into narrow strips, the jackfruit into small strips, the long beans into 3 cm long pieces, the shallots and garlic finely, the lomboks in half diagonally and the tempeh into small cubes.
Pound or grind the ingredients for the bumbu into a paste. Heat the oil in a wok/wadjan and fry the shallots and garlic. Add the bumbu and fry everything for 1 minute.
Add the cassava, the long beans, the lomboks and the Peteh beans cut in half to the water and let it simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Then add the tempeh, the reboeng and the jackfruit. Then add the shallot mixture with the salam leaves, followed by the asem, the coconut cream and the pointed cabbage. Let everything simmer for another 15 minutes. The vegetables should not be overcooked.
Remove the salam leaves and serve
Comments
There are countless variations on the world-famous sayur Lodeh. This is a rather spicy version. In the Padang cooking style of Sumatra, people like to add tumeric (turmeric).
To the editor: Sorry...an error had crept into the previous version. This is the correct recipe