Southern Staple · Stink Bean Stir-Fry
Moo Phat Sataw (Stir-Fried Pork with Stink Beans)
Photo: Takeaway / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Eating the pungent beans can make your urine smell strongly for a day or so afterward, much as asparagus does, thanks to sulfur compounds in the beans, and locals simply shrug it off for the flavor.
Stink beans (sataw) are shelled and stir-fried with sliced pork, garlic, chili and a spoon of shrimp paste until the beans turn bright green and slightly charred. It's a fixture of southern Thai lunch counters, served straight over rice.
Why it's made this way: Sataw grows easily across southern Thailand and pairs naturally with the region's other strong flavors — garlic, chili, dried shrimp and shrimp paste — which is exactly why southern cooks lean on it so heavily despite its notorious aroma.
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