dinengdeng nga uong-bunton ken balang a paria, wild mushroom soup with bitter melon leaves

Dinengdeng nga uong-bunton ken balang a paria.

Yet another mushroom here growing and picked from the wild: uong-bunton, named sobecause it usually grows near anthills (termite hills or bunton) during the rainy seasons and gathered after a night’s thunderstorm (the lightning is believed to be inducing the growth of mushrooms and other fungi, especially wild edible ones.

One early morning, an ambulant vendor passed by the house and offered this bundle for about PhP50. I readily bought it, along with some wild bitter melon tops the same vendor sells (she sure knows the fact that uong and paria are inevitable soup partners).

With a little bugguong (or patis, or salt, if you’re not used to the distinct bugguong aroma of a mushroom soup) and some slices of onion boiled in a minimal water, cook the uong, boil and simmer a bit for it to ooze its sweet and so tasty essence into the soup. Add the paria a minute before putting off fire while the soup’s still boiling. Serve immediately and consume the paria at once so that it won’t render your soup more bitter than tasty:

The tastiness and sweetness of the tender uong-bunton and the soup is more pronounced with the subtle bitterness of the paria (if cooked right briefly, paria leaves, even if it’s a wild variety, is not all extremely bitter):

More: 

• Uong ken lantong-utong, wild mushroom with young bean stalks/shoots
• Dinengdeng nga uong-mais ken uggot-marunggay, wild mushrooms and marunggay leaves

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