sabidukong, the edible wild flower with so many names

Sabidukong, it is. But it goes by so many names and monikers as people from many places in the Ilocos. Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera regions argue to agree and disagree on what to call it. But, well, this vine with beloved blossom and prized fruit is as loved as it is diversified depending on its place of domicile, wild or cultured/domesticated.

You can call it all you want, tonkin jasmine in English, and be it sabsabidukong, ampupuyat, bagbagkong, dukep, padpadol, kapaskapas, sipsippayot, tintirintin, pusapusa, saguyepyep, badbadiong, sapsapungot, turoturog, alimpapaok, ampapayot, sakasaka ti uwak, barbakilia, patpatayok, dogdogsol, dulangdulang, padpadulang, lupluppaaw, kuriday-ong, tibtibien, and many more (in Tagalog region, they call it bulakbulakan, puso-puso, latok, tramuki or taramuke), but it is still as delicious. Be it as a partner to your boiled balatong or a companion to your dinengdeng or a garnishing of sort to your pinakbet.

And here, the perfect combination: sabsabidukong with boiled balatong! I added bunga ti paria to certify the combo as a truly Ilokano dish. Naigisa a pinablad a balatong a nalaokan iti sabidukong ken paria. Sauteed boiled mung beans with wild sabidukong flowers and bitter melon.With lots of lasona and bawang to boot!

This is so.... so delicious!

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More sabidukong stories:

• sabidukong/pusapusa/dukep/bagbagkong/ampupuyat, edible wild vine flower

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kardis, alukon, sabong-karabasa, kalunay

Mangantayo manen! Come, let's eat, once all over again, share with me this another dinengdeng, this bugguong-flavored quartet of usual but exquisite Ilokano vegetables.

This is a pretty of veggies in that it has legumes (kardis), blossoms (alukon and karabasa), and green leaves (kalunay), stewed in fine bugguong essence and graced with dried shrimps (kuros):

So delicious, so Ilokano!

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More dinengdeng stories!

• Dinengdeng, glorious dinengdeng!

• Dinengdeng a bunga ti singkamas, jicama fruit stew

• Dinengdeng a rabong ken saluyot, bamboo shoot and saluyot stew

• Dinengdeng a sabunganay, banana blossom stew

• Dinengdeng a marunggay with kaggo, marunggay leaves and clam soup

• Fresh veggies for dinengdeng in Casantolan

• Dinengdeng nga uong-mais ken uggot-marunggay, wild mushrooms and marunggay leaves

• Dinengdeng a lalaki nga alukon, "male" alukon stew

• Dinengdeng a nalabbaga a katuday, purple katuday stew

• Dinengdeng/buridibod nga ube, purple yam stew with veggies

• Dinengdeng/buridibod nga ube (puraw), white yam stew with veggies and fried fish

• Dinengdeng with tinapa (smoked mackerel)

• Dinengdeng a katuday

• Dinengdeng a bunga, sabong ken uggot ti kabatiti, kabatiti tops, flower and fruit dinengdeng

• Solo a dinengdeng a marunggay

• Dinengdeng a kardis

• Dinengdeng a daludal, sagibsib, taro shoots/suckers

• Dinengdeng a saluyot ken tarong

• Dinengdeng a saba! banana/plantain stew

• Dinengdeng nga aba, stewed taro leaves/stems/roots

• Dinengdeng once more, because one can live in dinengdeng alone

• Baradibud a tugi, lesser yam vegetable stew

• Dinengdeng a saluyot and rabong variation--with bulong-sili, kalunay and utong

• Buridibod yet again: camote, petchay and alukon

• Dinengdeng/inabraw, more, once more

• Inabraw nga alukon/alukon leaves stew

• Buridibod, buribod, baradibod: camote with alukon and marunggay stew

• Dinengdeng a karabasa ken utong, squash goodies and string beans stew

• Dinengdeng nga uong ken lantong-utong, wild mushroom with young bean stalks/shoots

• Dinengdeng a paltong ti utong, utong tops stew/soup with dried shrimps

• Dinengdeng a langka ken pallang, jackfruit and winged bean stew

• Dinengdeng a patani ken sabong-karabasa, lima beans and squash flowers stew

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dinengdeng a sabunganay, banana blossom stew

Dinengdeng a sabunganay with sabong-karabasa and pallang.

Sabunganay or susop, banana blossom or inflorescence, can be prepared in a variety of ways as a vegetable. Be it inggisa (sauteed), kinilnat (boiled) as a salad, veggie for sinigang or other soups, and ingredient in the famous kare-kare, as an ukoy (fritter), as a bola bola (meatballs), as a kinilaw, and others.

I most prefer it as a plain dinengdeng anyway. Again, this is a childhood staple. We used to have a lot of banana "trees" (mostly plaintain variety called "dippig") in our place in Nueva Vizcaya which bear sabunganays all year round. My mother will dengdeng it with saluyot most of the time and sour it with young salamagi fruit. Or with young singkamas (jicama) pods when it's in season. Just a plain dinengdeng, without sagpaws. And what I liked most about this dinengdeng is the "puso," the innermost part of it, the bud, the core, which is the most tender and sweet. My younger brother and I crave for it and we usually "fight" over it and our mother will just halve it for us to have fair shares of the precious and delicious banana heart.

But preparing the sabunganay for a dinengdeng is a challenge of sort. It's kind of complicated task. Your hand, fingers, especially your nails is in danger of being stained with its sap, a sticky and brownish stain difficult to wash off. But the muri process is an art by itself: you open the blossom's bracts and pick out the clusters of the male flowers (the female flowers are the ones developed into fruit) and remove the stamen (or is it pistil?) or the "palito" out of each flowerettes. Discard the tougher and outer purple bracts, retain the white tender ones:

And here it is, cleaned and ready for the washing and rinsing off its sap (the sap should be discarded as it is kind of bitter or unpalatable):

Now this where you sacrifice that delicate and smooth hand and finger and manicured nail of yours--the squeezing to get rid of the sap. Put in some salt to help in the process, minimizing the bitterness later and sap stain:

Discard the sap out by rinsing it with water after every squeeze:

Squeezed dry, this is it, and there's the heart which I didn't slice, it should be intact to retain its sweet succulence:

We'll have pallang and karabasa flowers and tops to accompany our sabunganay:

I cooked it the way a dinengdeng should be: boiled water and diluted the bugguong, put in some onion slices and then the sabunganay, further boiled it, simmered (at this juncture, I halved the "heart" for it to evenly cook), and when it's tender enough, I put in the pallang and the karabasa and cooked it quickly to just kind of wilt it to retain crispness:

Here's the dinengdeng served, with that prized puso waiting for my eager plate and palate:

Of course, the heart is mine, alone, this time. No, I heartily shared the other half, I'm that generous still, I do have a heart.

And once again, I delighted in my childhood's dinengdeng a sabunganay. I swear I made it the way my mother intended it to be. My palate's memory of taste is as strong as today as it was. Come, share with me this grace.

[See higher resolution (larger and clearer) version, and more, of these photographs.]

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katuday dinengdeng

Dinengdeng with katuday flowers.

Katuday is perfect for a salad, blanched and tossed with bugguong, kamatis and lasona/sibuyas, it's a perfect appetizer of sort. And it's mostly known and used for as a flower vegetable. But it can be also made into a hearty dinengdeng along with other greens. Yes, although some may not relish its distinct but mild bitter-sweetness, a dinengdeng-gourmand will just simply adore katuday in his bugguong-charmed veggie soup.

This is my dinengdeng with katuday, we'll have here utong, okra, paria and bilonak (alugbati), with bits and pieces of tinapa (smoked galunggong fish), boiling in its nutritious essence, its bubling bugguong broth fusing cozily with the veggies and wafting a peculiar Ilokano aroma intensified by the smokiness of the tinapa:

The secret to a truly delicious and delightful dinengdeng is its crispness and succulence--not overcooked to a bland mash, the cooking should just be quick but sure. This should be particularly noted when a katuday is in the mix because it needs just a few minutes to be done.

Try it, and you'll have this dinengdeng, too:

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sabunganay/susop, banana blossom

Sabunganay. Or susop (as is called in some areas in the Ilocos region). Banana blossom. It's a preferred vegetable for sinigang (sour soup), dinengdeng (sabunganay with saluyot is just so good, with or without a sagpaw of say grilled bangus or paltat or tilapia) and as well, prepared as sauteed or made into adobo, with lots of onions and some garlic, some cracked pepper, with some vinegar to taste. Or boiled and made as a salad with KBL (kamatis, bugguong, lasona). It even be made into a spicy kilawen. And it can be roasted and prepared as a salad. And as "meat balls", too, as well as an omelette.

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katuday blossoms salad

Katuday (sesbania grandiflora) tree, along with the marunggay tree, and even the alukon tree, is often planted along roadsides in most Ilocos provinces and in front/backyards of Ilokano houses. You know you are in Ilocos or in an ilokano neighborhood if you see one, or a combination, or all, of these staple Ilokano "fixtures:" marunggay tree, katuday tree, alukon tree. If not planted right on the ground, you can sometimes notice "miniaturized" or "portable" versions planted in a sack or cut steel drum. Although, of course, katuday (katuray in Tagalog) is not exclusively Ilokano because other Filipino peoples also like it. But Ilokanos just love it as a salad drenched with bugguong and garnished with slices of tomatoes and onions. And you can also find it as a floral part in a dinengdeng a bulbulong (boiled leafy greens) along with karabasa blossoms. Katuday is also wonderful with your inabraw nga aba or ginettaan nga aba (taro stems/leaves/roots stew, or cooked in coconut milk), the bittersweet character of the flower leaves a unique sweetish aftertaste.

But I prefer the simple kinilnat a katuday (blanched) or ensalada a katuday. Put in a little amount of water in a pan, let it boil to bubling point and then put in your prepared and rinsed katuday blossoms. Let it boil for some three minutes or less then transfer it immediately into a bowl and garnish it with KBL (kamatis-bugguong-lasona).

A note on preparing the flowers: to be assured of a naturally sweet katuday dish, do not rinse or soak throughly in water, to secure the nectar inside the flower (those which already blossomed). Also, when already cooked, do not squeeze the boiled blossoms. You can also just blanch the flowers to capture more of the of the nectar: rinse the flowers and with some waters clinging to the petals and all, put it in a pan without water and cover it, set it on high heat. After a couple minutes, check if the flowers are already somehow wilted, put off fire and transfer the flowers to a bowl and garnish.

(Originally blogged June 11, 2009)

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karabasa & utong, squash goodies and string beans stew

This is my usual dinengdeng. Simple, fast, easy, delicious way of cooking veggies with bugguong.

Used here are flowers, tops and fruit of the karabasa (squash), and utong (young string beans, not to be mistaken to mean the Tagalog word).

First things first, the muri or the process of taking or picking out the non-essentials. These are the "beginnings" and "ends" of the string beans and squash tops and flower stalks, which are cut, and with the squash tops "skinned," its stem's hairy peel removed and its coarse leaves "crumpled" (like paper, to neutralize its roughness). And the peeling and gutting and cubing of the squash fruit. And the "deflowering" by removing the sepals and stamens or pistils of the squash flower. But when I muri squash flowers, I do not remove the yellow, pollen-crusted stamen or the "buto-buto." Traditionally, this is a non-essential part of this edible flower and is therefore mercilessly severed ala-Lorena Bobbitt (remember her?) and discarded and thrown away as if it is an odious and evil thing. Some say it is bitter. But not for me, I like the bittery sweetness of the squash buto-buto. For one, it should not be removed so as to prevent the oozing out of the precious nectar pool at its base. This nectar naturally sweetens the broth later. Remove only the buto-buto when it is inevitable as in some extreme cases when it is already rotten or when the base was infested by some worms. So when you muri the flower, check the stamen base for some nasty unsightly creatures. But spare the buto. You'll never regret saving it. It's so heavenly sweet and so wickedly yummy, delicious, the buto is.

Now, to the cooking of the dinengdeng!

The standard Ilokano way of stewing veggies or boiling veggies, dinengdeng and inabraw, is boiling water in a pot and then the obligatory panamguong (panamagbugguong) process.

As much as possible, use "real" bugguong. I mean the one with the rotting, errrr, fermenting fishes intact in it, the munamon, the mataan, and the tirong variety are the most preferred. Not the "instant" bottled or canned liquefied bugguong paste or sauce. Using an instant bugguong denies you a great chance of the noble task of making a hearty and splendid dinengdeng. If you want to really labor and savor the Ilokano dinengdeng, do the panagbugguong act called segseg--the process of extracting the essence of the bugguong into your dinengdeng broth. You put some bugguong, both fish and sauce, in a malukong (bowl) and ladle some boiling water into it and then, with careful and gentle tapping of the ladle's lip against the bugguong paste, extricate flesh from fishbone, mash into a puree-like mush, make it pulpy to extract the soul of the bugguong out of its fleshy and earthly corpus. And then separate and segregate pulped and mashed fishbone from liquid by carefully pouring the puree back into the bubling pot. Be very, very careful of this required calculated pouring act lest some tiny bits of fishbone escape and fall into the broth--it will spoil the entirety of the dinengdeng if there are tiny spurs in it, nobody will ever love a "kasegsegseg a dinengdeng" as it will cause an unpleasant irritation in the mouth and palate.

And then, and then, and then, boil the bugguong broth some more to eradicate its "angdod" or raw smell. Then put in the cubed squash fruit first and let some time to simmer for it to soften. If you prefer, you can put in a crushed "teeth" of garlic and some slices of fresh onion for aroma and flavor. After which, put in the string beans. Cook it some more. Finally, a minute or two before you serve it, put in the squash shoots (tops) and flowers. At this juncture, you can slip some tomato slices in the broth to moderate the salty greed of the bugguong, enhancing the flavor. The flowers should not be overcooked. Cook it just enough for the sweetness of the nectar in its ovule to blend with the broth. Serve immediately while piping hot, scoop up the squash flowers and tops and place atop the heap to prevent over-wilting, eat at once to take advantage of its sweet crisp succulence.

(Originally posted November 4, 2006)

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buridibod, buribod, baradibod: camote with alukon and marunggay stew

Buridibod is a typical Ilokano dish. And it's truly a unique Ilokano specialty of concocting what's sweet and sweetish and pulpy to go with a variety of leafy green veggies, or with some vegetable blossoms and fruits, for that beloved dinengdeng or inabraw. Ilokanos love their vegetable soup somewhat sweet or sweety, the magnificent blending of sweetness and the saltiness of the blessed bugguong. A sweety, pulpy soup so bugguongy fragrant and that distinct leafy raw scent that's so perfect for igup (soup to consume exclusively through spoonfuls or usually sipped through the rim of the bowl), and labay (soup to go with rice) as well, to please a not so finicky but just characteristic Ilokano palate.

Any edible root will do with this delicacy. Camote or sweet potato is popular. And so with marunggay leaves, petchay, paria (bitter melon) leaves and tops, kalunay or kuantong (spinach and amaranth), and camote tops itself, and other leafy greens. But it also is known, buridibod still, with other root crops like aba (yam), tugi, buga, kamangeg, ube, balinghoy or kamoteng kahoy (cassava, yuca, or manioc) and others.

Alukon or alokon (allaeanthus glaber) is also a popular ingredient. Either blossoms (flowerettes) or young leaves. But the flower is preferred. The young fruit of the singkamas (or 'kamas, as some folks fondly call) plant (jicama) is also a perfect ingredient, as well as the young fruit of the marunggay tree. I even sagpaw (add in) tarong (eggplant) especially the smaller and younger fruits (called marabusel ones). Or even young parda pods and kardis young/green beans. It's up to your Ilokano instinct/ingenuity to add a variety of available vegetables.

My buridibod here is typically camote, marunggay and alukon. It's alukon season when I made this dish. Instead of the usual alukon and sauteed pinablad a balatong (boiled mung beans) combination, or alukon in a pinakbet, I decided on a buridibod when i spotted these lovely white and purple sweet potatoes and these freshly picked marunggay stalks.

I just love alukon blossoms. These are the kababai (female) blossoms. There are two alukons that I know. The kababai and the kalalaki (male), just like papayas. and mind you, I like the kalalaki nga alukon more. Its flowers (or is its fruit?) are roundish and aptly resembles the human male testicles, complete with pubic hair-like, well, hairs that grew out of the flower/fruit's pores. For me, it's more edible than the kabaian alukon flower. But you can't find male alukon flowers sold in markets, only the kabaian ones. I wonder why. We used to have a kabaian and kalakian alukon trees in our place in Nueva Vizcaya. But the kalakian tree is already cut down for sungrod (firewood).

Anyway, here's how I came with my own version of buridibod: I boiled some water in a pot for the bugguong. I peeled the camotes and cut them into cubes. washed the alukon, and rinsed and segregated the marunggay leaves. After the bugguong is boiled for some time, I put in the camote cubes first and let it cook. Here, you can prefer your buridibod somewhat drier or soft and pulpy. If you want a pulpy buridibod, boil the camotes some more or you can mash it by using a ladle. But mash it not too mushy so that enough broth remain. You have to retain some broth for your souping purposes. When the camotes are cooked, I put in the alukon blossoms, I let it cook for some time and then, just before serving, I put in the marunggay leaves. Do not overcook the marunggay.

Here's the result:

A closeup:

What a heavenly viand to go with your steamed rice!

(Originally posted December 13, 2008)

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