Yardlong Beans in Adobo Sauce

Here's a dish that has a dual personality, a bit healthy and a little bit un due to the fatty but yummy pork belly. The only vegetable I know that is cooked adobo style is the leafy green kangkong or water spinach but apparently among Filipinos, sitaw or yardlong beans is also cooked adobo style but flavored with pork belly.

I recently cooked adobo pork belly and there was one strip and lots of garlicky sauce left. I boiled the cut yardlong beans in salted water and finished cooking them with the sliced pork belly adobo and its sauce. The dish is so very yummy. I would like to think the unhealthy fatty pork is canceled out by the vegetable but I have my doubts.:p

Sitaw in Adobo Sauce
a 4-ounce piece of skin-on pork belly
½ cup coconut or cider vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon sea salt
6 cloves skin-on garlic
1/8 teaspoon whole black pepper
1 small bay leaf
1 cup water
2 cups yardlong beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
water
1 teaspoon sea salt

• Put all the ingredients except the last 3 in a small saucepan. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until pork is tender. Add water if sauce is drying out. Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Remove the pork, transfer onto a cutting board and let cool. When cool enough to handle, cut into thin slices. Transfer the sauce along with the pork in a bigger saucepan or wok. Turn heat to medium-low.
• In another saucepan, place the cut beans, add enough water to cover and the salt. Boil until crisp tender. The beans should have bright green color. Drain and transfer into the saucepan. Turn up the heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 2 minutes, stirring to coat the beans with the sauce. Serve hot with steamed rice.