I'm so in love with
buridibud (buribod, baradibud; vegetables and root crop stew) that I always cook/consume this authentic Ilokano dish--as often as when I came upon any available ingredients in my regular forays in the veggie/wet local markets. Especially when it's
alukon season, I always make a
buridibod with alukon flowerettes and other greens like
marunggay leaves and
pechay (especially the small
murumor ones, pechay sowed and grown like seedlings; or petchay with flowers).
And it's also perfect with young/immature marunggay pod or fruit (more popularly known as "drumstick" elsewhere outside the Philippines, especially in India).
I was a bit lucky that market day because aside from the abundance of marunggay pods and camotes, I also chanced upon heaps of shucked and dried small freshwater clam meat; and in the fish section, a bountiful supply of one of the fish I love--
malaga (rabbitfish; rare and pricey in this parts).
The dried clam meat is from the
tukmem (or
bennek, or
dukkiang). It's called
"narnar" in Cagayan (also called
"gasagas" or
"ginasagas" owing to the process of how it was shucked from its shell, using a
bigao-like bamboo strainer similar to
"karadikad"). It's usually added to
dinengdeng, or made into a delicious
ukoy (fritter or patty).
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| "Narnar" |
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| A close-up look at the "narnar" |
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| Malaga fish to be grilled |
These would be great for my buridibod! The malaga will be grilled a put atop a narnar-suffused buridibud!
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| Camote and marunggay pod (fruit) |
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| This is how I "muri" or prepare the marunggay pods. |
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| The grilled malaga |
As with my other versions of buridibod, I boil bugguong first, and then put in the camote, and the marunggay pods after the camote is slightly cooked. (You can lightly mash some of the tender camote cubes if you want a more pulpy and sweeter broth.) The pods should not be overcooked. Next, I put in the the "narnar," and a few minutes before serving I put atop the grilled malaga. (You can put the fish earlier as in other
sagpaw, but malaga is very delicate in that its flesh will become "maburbor" (disintegrated) if it's cooked for quite a longer time.)
And here's it, steaming right from the pot, ready to be served hot.
Here's the final product:
A closer look to savor its sumptous beauty:
