Have you ever been to the market and seen what you thought were ordinary green beans on steroids? That is bodi, a pencil-thin bean that resembles a green bean although not as crisp. Bodi, sometimes known as yard-long beans, can indeed grow up to about three feet long, although they’re usually harvested at 18 inches or less.
Native to Southeast Asia, bodi is an annual climbing plant with white, yellow or pale purple flowers. Bodi is also called asparagus bean, Chinese long bean or snake bean, and belongs to the same family as the black-eyed pea and pigeon pea.
Beans have been cultivated for at least 7,000 years. It is believed beans originated in Central America. There are more than 12,000 species of beans throughout the world. Bodi comes in different varieties, ranging from the more common pale green pod variety, to the more slender darker green one, to a deep brownish-red variety.
Bodi is very nutritious. A 100-gram serving gives four grams of protein, 110 milligrams of calcium, five milligrams of iron, two milligrams of vitamin A, and 35 milligrams of vitamin C.
Bodi can be prepared in various ways: stewed with tomato sauce, steamed and drained, then seasoned with lemon juice and oil, or simmered in butter or oil and garlic. The pale green bean is meatier and sweeter than the dark green bean, which has a less delicate taste.
Long Bean Stir Fry
1 pound pak choy
1 pound bodi, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut off the very bottom of stems from the pak choy, and then cut in half lengthwise. Blanch the pak choy in hot water, drain and set aside. Steam the bodi until bright green (about four minutes), and then combine with pak choy. Heat peanut oil and sesame oil in a hot frying pan. Add the bodi and pak choy.
Stir-fry for two minutes. Add soy sauce and sesame seeds. Season with salt and pepper. Makes four servings.
Simple Chinese Bodi
1 pound bodi, cut in bite-size pieces and steamed
3 cloves garlic, chopped as small as possible
1/2 Cup balsamic vinegar
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and
serve at room temperature. Serves four.
Chinese Bodi Salad
1 Cup bodi, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 red onion, chopped finely
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 Cup bean sprouts
1 sweet bell pepper (preferably red), seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 medium cucumber sliced thin
DRESSING
1/3 Cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon herbs such as basil or thyme, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
Salt to taste
In a large frying pan, mix bodi, onion and vinegar. Cook 2 minutes with constant stirring. Take off heat and allow to cool. Mix in bean sprouts, pepper and cucumber. Then mix dressing and add to veggies. Chill for 2 hours before serving. Serves six.
Sautéed Bodi
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 Cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 Cup pork (or chicken) cut into thin strips
1/2 Cup deveined shrimp
1/2 pound bodi, cut into 2-inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat oil, garlic and onion. Add tomatoes and cook until soft, stir in pork and shrimp. Cook, stirring occasionally. Add bodi and cook until tender. Season to taste. Serve hot. Serves four.
For the Gardeners:
Bodi grows quickly in the Caribbean’s warm climate. In fact it grows so well that Trinidad produced nine million kilos of bodi in 2003! Bodi prefers a light, well-drained soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.8, enriched with compost or rotted chicken manure and grows to maturity in less than 60 days.
Being a climbing plant, bodi provides extra work for the gardener. Soak the seeds in water before sowing for better germination. Plant seeds an inch deep, at least eight inches apart, with raised rows separated at least three feet. The distance between rows is necessary
because sticks need to be placed every six to eight feet along the rows. Some farmers put in the sticks before planting so as not to irritate the young plants.
Strings are then strung between the sticks at three levels, one, two, and four feet. As they grow, carefully weave the bodi vines between these strings.
Bodi is perfect for the home gardener who has a chain link fence for it to climb. Bodi can also vine on dead eggplant or hot pepper trees. Beans are hungry and deplete the soil of nutrients, so it is wise to rotate planting areas. Urea or a high nitrogen fertilizer works well on all beans. In the early growth stages use a 12 – 24 – 12 fertilizer mix and 12 –17 – 2 mix when flowering begins. Flowering will occur five weeks after sowing. Fruits will grow from open flower to suitable length in about 10 days.
Pick the pods at the tender stage at maximum length before the seeds mature or swell — usually 12 to 18 inches.
Mole crickets love young bodi.
“Ringing”, where the beans actually turn into a spiral, is one of the most common diseases. Aphids are drawn to the pods of this plant. Thrips tend to be a pest early in the season. Spider mites can be a problem, producing a silver speckled appearance on leaves. Bodi is also susceptible to nematodes and mosaic virus. A chemical spray of Fastac or Vydate–L is beneficial. Be careful to spray chemicals at least two weeks before harvest.
