Stir-fry Lentil Beans with Ikan Bilis

With the festive season recently and insane weather, good ole veges' priceshas somehow sky-rocketed in the wet market. Not to mention the limited choices offered by these vege sellers.

Last Sunday was Chap Goh Meh (last day of the Lunar New Year) and the wet market was basically a battle ground with people mountain-people seafighthing for whatever is left on the racks... not to mention about the insane price increased for the occasion. Therefore, I seldom swing to the wet market now as I can't really tell what I'm paying for is actually the right price... these sellars will just tell me so much is the amount and I will pay them... pretty silly isn't it? Even if I asked, I still can't mentally calculate the $/kati/kg or whatever... I'm not a math person. :P

So, as a customer, I should have the rights to know what I am paying for. Where else but supermarkets where they won't feel offended if you dump back that bundle or packet of spinach if the price is not right? I love shopping at supermarket these days... apart from not to have to wake up early, battle with the crowd and with air-condition, they are just as good from the good ole wet market though I must confess that sometimes some fresh produces are not 'very' the fresh but at least I can see the dates it has been packed. Best of all, it indicates the weight and the $/kg. Fair deal especially when I'm buying price controlled items. The chicken sellars always give me different quotes!

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Back to the topic, I saw these gigantic beans last Sunday at Tesco. My mom bought them a few times when I was back in KL the last time but so far I've not seen them being sold here. OK, must confess again that Penang is still quite backward! It is called lentil beans... it's a bigger version of the sweetpea but lest the shinny surface. One thing I like about this bean is, it's crunchy even after I fried them for quite a while.

Ingredients

• 1 pkt of Lentil beans (around 10pcs cut diagonally about 1" in length)


• 25g Ikan bilis - chopped


• Carrot (a few slices)


• Light soy sauce and pepper for taste


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the lentil beans for about 5 minutes. Lift up.


2. Add some more oil to the wok and fry the chopped ikan bilis till fragrant (3 minutes)


3. Throw the lentil beans back into the wok and stir for a while then add in the sliced carrot and continue to stir for another 2 minutes


4. Add a little water (around 1/4 cup), stir and cover wok for 2-3 minutes


5. Before lifting, put a dash of light soy sauce and pepper to taste

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Note: Ikan bilis is generally salty, so if you prefer it to be saltier then add more light soy sauce or if you prefer to use salt, you can put a pinch but not too much or it will over the sweetness of the beans