Sitaw Pesto Salad (3 Simple Vegatable Salads for my Kababayan - part 1)

Eating vegetable salad is one of the best thing I learned when living abroad.  It was a challenge for me to eat something cold like salad because the meal in the Philippines, where I came from is usually steamed rice with some warm cooked meat and vegetables.   But now, I really really like salad.  My meal is incomplete without it.  

When I visited Philippines, I noticed that many of my colleagues, relatives and friends are trying to shift to a healthier diet by eating more vegetable salad.  However some ingredient is usually expensive.  It is either imported or difficult to grow in the country (lettuce for example).  In most case, eating vegetable salad in your meal turned out more expensive than eating the regular Filipino meal.

In this 3-series post, I will be sharing 3 simple vegetable salad recipes using the local Philippine vegetables as the main ingredients.  

These are the salads I'm eating regularly and can be a good substitute to the popular expensive salad.  The ingredients are simple, few and can be easily found in the market, making it is more affordable.

First Salad is Sitaw Pesto Salad

I've tasted some nice green beans salad while in Finland.  The salad there has French green beans which is the slimmer, shorter and more tender type of green beans.  I remembered sitaw (snake beans) and thought of salad variation using it.  Sitaw is one of the local vegetables in the Philippines.  It is fat and cholesterol free and a good source of  iron, potassium and zinc.

Sitaw is longer than other green beans

This salad has pesto dressing.  It's a substitute for fresh basil as that herb is difficult to find in the local market.  Pesto flavor is popular now a days in the Philippines, like the pesto pasta.  

Sitaw Pesto Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups of snake beans, washed and sliced an inch length  (or Baguio beans)
1 regular tomato, thinly sliced and seeds removed (or 4-5 pcs of cherry tomatoes, sliced)
2 tsp pesto
1/2 white or red onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp oil, any oil would work
kalamansi or lemon to taste
salt to taste 

Directions:


1.  Slice the vegetables accordingly.

2.  Cook sitaw in a pot with boiling water for 4-5 mins.  It's important not to overcook sitaw so you won't loose it's herby fresh taste.  If you have steamer it's better to steam it. 

3.  Once cooked, rinse with cold water so it won't continue to cook.  Set aside.

4.  Heat the oil in the pan then add garlic.  Saute for 2-3 mins or until the garlic is cooked.   This step is optional.  You may also use raw minced garlic if you don't mind eating raw garlic.

5.  In a bowl, put the sitaw, tomatoes, onions, garlic and pesto.  Toss the salad then taste. 

6.  Squeeze some lemon or kalamansi for added freshness.

7.  Add some salt depending on your taste.

Upgrade your salad by putting some grated parmesan cheese or feta cheese if you have.  This step is optional.

Here is a quick video on how to prepare the salad.  Watch out for the coming 2 more salads.

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