Stink Beans (also known as Twisted Cluster, Bitter, Petai or Sator Beans)

Parkia speciosa (bitter bean, twisted cluster bean, or stink bean) is a plant of the genus Parkia in the family Fabaceae. It bears long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds the size and shape of plump almonds which have a rather peculiar smell, similar (but stronger) to the Shiitake mushroom, characterised by some as being similar to natural gas. It is known as petai, pete or peteh in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In marketplace, depending on the country of origin Parkia species may be labelled peteh, petai, yongchaa, yongchaak, Zawngṭah (pronounced Zongtrah). They are best when combined with other strongly flavoured foods such as garlic, chili peppers, dried shrimp or shrimp paste, as in sambal petai. When young the pods are flat because the seeds have not yet developed, and they hang like a bunch of slightly twisted ribbons, pale green, almost translucent. At this stage they may be eaten raw, fried or pickled. Young tender pods with undeveloped beans can be used whole in stir-fried dishes. In Indonesia, petai is very popular in the highlands of Java and Sumatra, especially among Sundanese, Minangkabau and many other people in different cultures of the island. In Sundanese cuisine petai might be eaten raw with sambal as part of lalab, fried or grilled. It also can be stir fried and mixed with oncom. In Java and Sumatra, it also might be added to sayur lodeh or sambal goreng ati petai (fried diced cow or chicken liver in sambal and petai). Nasi goreng kambing petai is popular variant of nasi goreng with goat meat and petai. In Minangkabau cuisine it usually become part of lado (Minang sambal) for ayam pop (Padang style fried chicken). In Malaysia, petai also commonly served with sambal, or mixed with dried shrimp, chili peppers, red onions, belacan (shrimp paste), soy sauce and minced meat. In Thailand it is called sato (Thai: สะตอ), usually added to a Thai curry such as Thai Duck Green Curry, or as mu phat sato, stink bean with stir fried pork.