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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