parda salad

Parda (dolichos lablab; bataw in Tagalog) is unmistakably GI--genuinely Ilokano veggie prominent in Ilocos cuisine, at least, and but specially among simple Ilokano dishes and viands of the almost vegan kind. Parda is versatile in that the young pods of it can go with your usual dinengdeng of green leafy veggies. Its young and/or not so mature beans is also edible and it is as palatable and as promising as patani (lima beans), kardis or pusi, utong, balatong, etc.

(Photograph above is our parda plant in my place in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya.)

For me, aside from the main parda courses, when I want a quick fix of it, I simply blanch/boil it in a few minutes and make it into a parda salad with the inevitable tomato slices and bugguong (and some young onions, to complete the KBL). Just don't overboil it, a blanch is all that you need to assure you of its crispness and sweetness. Parda salad is most delicious and effective--like most veggies intended for ensalada/kinilnat/linayet--if it's freshly picked. So if you have a parda plant right where you are, set some water to boil  first, then go pick parda in the vine, muri it, then blanch it immediately when the water is bubbling, enjoy the ensalada. But freshly picked ones are also abundant in the local markets if you're that early.

Goes best with steaming rice and some oil (vegetable, palm of cooking oil) for labay.

(Originaly blogged January 24, 2010)