buridibod yet again: camote, petchay and alukon

This is yet another buridibod variation.We have previously featured our buribod with alukon floweretters and marunggay leaves and buridibod with marunggay pods. Here's one with alukon still and with "baby" petchays (young and small petchay). The basic ingredient here is the camote root. Buridibod is buridibod as long as it has the main ingredient, which is root crop, be it camote, or other root crops like taro, yam, and other starchy edible root.

As with the others, my buridibod this time is cooked with the camotes at the base of the lot, it is put in first after the bugguong is diluted in the boiling water, simmered sometime to cook it (the camote), and then the alukon and the petchay.

Do not overcook the alukon and the petchay. Put off fire and serve immediately while crisp and green, with the sweet starchy broth steaming.

Read More

dinengdeng/inabraw, more, once more

Just can't get enough with dinengdeng (inabraw, if you will), this Ilokano gourmand in me (yes I consider dinengdeng kind of a gourmet), I have it in almost daily basis, my life could be so sorry and bleak, truly incomplete without it in my table in a day. I have exclusively blogged about it here and here today, once more. And more to come next blog entries. For dinengdeng is so versatile a dish it can be done in countless of ways and means with a variety of available veggies (especially green leafy) in season or all year round, as long as there's the blessed bugguong ready to lend its distinct flavor and aroma to every dinengdeng combination you can think of.

So, here are some more of my dinengdeng creations:

Winged beans (pallang), string beans (utong) and camote tops soured with young tamarind fruit.

Kuditdit or kudet (bracket fungi, tree ear fungus) and wild ampalaya (paria a balang/paria ti bakir)shoots with kinirog nga udang (fried freshwater shrimps).

Wild ampalaya shoots and straw mushrooms (uong-garami or uong-saba) with fried fish.

Chayote with dried ipon (goby fries). This is my personal favorite, that of chayote and/or papaya (green papayas) solo dinengdeng, which I usually flavor with lots of crushed laya (ginger). The soup is so savoury and gingery hot.

Uong, young tarong, sabong ken uggot kabatiti, with shrimps. 

A very savory dinengdeng I promise you, mainly because of its prized gamet (dried red seaweed). Gamet is like the Japanese nori. It enhances the flavor and aroma of the dinengdeng, especially its broth. Gamet seaweed is primarily gathered and dried in the northernmost towns of Ilocos Norte (mainly Burgos, and Pagudpod), and even in Cagayan (like Claveria). In this dinengdeng, you have there young tarong, sili nga aruy-oy (sweet pepper), and the flowers and shoots of kabatiti (the native, angular sponge gourd, patola).

Kalunay, katuday, uggot ken sabong kabatiti, with broiled native paltat (catfish).

Boiled utong (cowpeas) and sabong ken uggot ti karabasa (squash flowers and shoots), with bits of deep fried pork. Quite a different dinengdeng, you say, but it's good.

Tugi ( lesser yam, Chinese yam, Dioscorea esculenta Lour.), pallang, katuday (katuray, West Indian pea), and kalunay (spinach, amaranth, kulitis) with udang. This one, with the presence of the tugi, can also be called a buridibod. And it's so good, the soup is sweetish.

Read More

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

Sabidukong is a vine that grows wild in forested areas, it clings to and climbs tall shrubs and trees. It goes by various names depending on places. It is called sabidukong or sabsabidukong in Nueva Vizcaya, and in most areas in the Ilokandia. It is called dukep in San Fernando City (La Union), ampupuyat in Piddig (Ilocos Norte), pusapusa and/or patpatayok in Batac, bagbagkong in some other places, and even tirintintin in some areas.

This edible vine flowerettes (the young fruit called "padpadol" is also edible) is great with other leafy green veggies for a perfect dinengdeng. It can be a sort of garnishing atop your favorite saluyot and rabong, along with that grilled/broiled paltat/dalag/bangus. It can be sautéed or stir fried with your preferred vegetable medley. And, sure enough, it goes well with your beloved pinakbet.

Padpadol (harvested from Banna, Ilocos Norte) sold at a wet market in Sampaloc, Manila.

Sabidukong flower is now a rarity and perchance you came upon it in the market come rainy months, it's kind of expensive. Some years ago, we have a "domesticated" sabidukong plant in our backyard garden (in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya). We have it in a trellis and it supplied us with enough flower and fruit for many seasons. Unfortunately, it eventually withered and died, I guess, a natural death. If i'm lucky, I could find sabidukong in the Bambang public market in Nueva Vizcaya when I stop over on my way back to Cagayan. I have yet to see sabidukong here in Cagayan, though. I think most people here don't know of it or are not aware that it's edible and kind of exotic fare.

Sabidukong is also great with boiled beans such as balatong, as is evident with what I did here:

This is pinablad a balatong sautéed in garlic and onions and with canned sardines (in tomato sauce). The sabidukong flowerettes are so sweet with that distinct herb-y aroma.

* * *

As an update to this blog post, here are some more pictures of sabidukong, courtesy of Jesse Calaustro, an agriculturist-farmer-entrepreneur from Dasol, Pangasinan:

Sabidukong flowerettes in the vine.

Just-picked sabidukong with other ingredients
(rabong, saluyot, kabatiti, bangus) ready for a great dinengdeng.

Sabidukong fruit, called "padpadol"
because of its resemblance to padol (stake).

Sabidukong, padpadol and others.

Sabidukong flowers in a dinengdeng with other greens and squash flowers.

(Originally blogged January 27, 2010)

:::::

Read More

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)

Read More