Dragon Tongue Beans With Peach

Raw Dragon Tongue Beans

Yesterday at the farmers' market in Woodstock we bought dragon tongue beans. They are multipurpose beans that can be used for shelling or, if picked early enough, they can be eaten with the whole pod. I think these are the same beans we have in Italy, except there we only use them for shelling. I was very surprised to discover that you could eat them raw and they have a pungent and fresh flavor that makes them a very good snack. Today however I wanted to try cooking them to make a side dish for the wonderful organic pork chops we bought at the market, but I couldn't find any recipe that I really liked online. Since we also had previously bought a couple of Illinois Peaches from a farmstand that is down the road from our house and they were starting to spoil, I decided to use both ingredients.

The result was surprisingly tasty and me and my husband loved it. The peaches, once cooked, were not as sweet as I would have imagined, and the overall taste of the plate stayed fresh and spicy. I only had ground ginger in the house but I am sure the plate could improve with the use of fresh ginger instead.

The final result: Dragon Tongue Beans with Peach

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups of Dragon Tongue Beans
• 1 Peach
• 1 Medium Onion
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt
• A dash of Cognac or Brandy for flavoring
• Olive oil

RECIPE

1. Chop beans in pieces about 1/2 inch long discarding the tip of the beans
2. Chop the onion 
3. Peel and cut the peach in cubes of about 1 inch
4. In a large fryer or in a wok pour enough olive oil to coat the pan and then cook the beans and the onion, stirring every once in a while, until the beans have lost their color and the onions are soft and translucent
5. Add the peaches to the fryer and a dash of cognac, keep stirring to avoid the vegetables sticking to the pan
6. Add the red pepper flakes ( to taste), the ginger and the salt
7. Once the cognac as cooked off make sure that the beans are tender enough and the dish is ready. It can be eaten hot or cold. It works very well as a side dish to pork chops or with brown or wild rice.