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String Beans with Bacon Bits

String beans with bacon bits. This is a very very simple dish, the use of bacon is optional. In Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies (my native home), we call this vegetable Bodie and in Guyana, it is called Bora. It can be freshly bought at your favorite market place or purchased in the frozen section at the grocery store.

In the BVI (British Virgin Islands), I rarely see this bean in the market and on the rare occassion that I do, it is quite expensive and I refuse to buy them.

Method
If you choose to purchase the frozen version of this vegetable, these packets are now designed to be cooked in the microwave. So all you have to do is to place the pack(s) of beans in the good old 'micro', set for about five (5) minutes and they are done.

If you are lucky enough to get the fresh beans, they are normally quite long so you would need to cut them into about 2 inches pieces and steam them. I don't have a vegetabale steamer so I use a rice strainer. I place the rice strainer in a pot (that is big enough to hold the strainer) of water and I place the vegetables in the rice strainer. Of course I would place a cover over the rice strainer to allow the steam to cook the vegetables. After the beans had cooked, transfer them to a serving dish.

Now if you choose to include the bacon in this recipe then place the three strips of turkey bacon (this is just my personal preference because they are more lean) in some paper towel. Wrap the strips in the paper towel. Place the wrapped bacon in the microwave and cook for 2 minutes.

When I first tried this tip, I set my microwave to 5 minutes! The next thing I knew the strips bacon were burning and I was wondering that happened!!! I left it in the microwave too long. I was determined so I threw away the burnt bacon and wrapped two fresh bacon strips in paper towel, place them in the microwave and set the microwave for 2 minutes. Believe me when I say I did not move until it was done! I began to smell the bacon cooking and then I heard a sizzling sound and I knew that it was ready. I checked the bacon and I was satisfied.

Cut up the cooked bacon strips in to small pieces and sprinkle over the steamed string beans. No need to add any salt to this dish because of course the bacon is salted. If you choose not to use the bacon, you could add a 'pinch' of salt.