pinabelllad a balatong

Pinabellad or pinablad, boiled, or literally, enlarged.

One time, n a rather cloudy day with bits of rainshower, as in cold day, quite unusual on the onset of summer but a perfect day to boil some balatong because pinablad a balatong is usually a great appetizer on rainy or cold days.

This is just plain pinabellad a balatong sauteed in little cooking oil and garlic and onions, and then topped with some greens, marunggay and uggot ti kabatiti:

The plainest and simplest there is, without sagpaw (add-on), no grilled or fried fish or meat, just some leaves, this is the way most Ilokanos prefer it:

And this one, with repolio:

Ilokano simplicity and frugality at its best!

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More balatong dishes:

• Pinablad a balatong a nalaokan iti ubog ti way, mongo beans soup with rattan bud/shoot

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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/buridibod nga ube, purple yam stew with veggies

Ube or ubi, the "real" and popularly known ube (purple yam; being different from that of "puraw nga ube"). I was lucky enough to spot huge pieces of ube roots being sold by industrious folks displaying garden produce and wild leafy greens and roots along the national highway in Iguig, Cagayan (exactly on the Tuguegarao-Iguig boundary arch, on that road going to the Saint Clare Monastery, where vendors usually sell vegetables, wild mushrooms, freshwater fish and shells, edible insects, etc. to the devotees who flock the monastery chapel every Sunday and on holidays). I readily bought a 2-kilogram worth at PhP30 a kilo.

And so with it, I continue my buridibod/baradibod-making escapade (after kamote, tugi, and puraw nga ube):

This is quite large, more that two kilograms actually, but this is medium sized compared to the other roots for sale. I only need this for now, for my ube buridibod of the day (actually this is good for even five buridibud serving/cooking):

Freshly picked vegetables are also on sale so I have pallang, sabong ti karabasa and bilonak (kubay, alugbati) for the buridibod:

The bilonak is so fresh, I set asided half of the bundle for a salad later:

Peeling up the ube and cutting it up into cubes--see how purple, how lavender, how violet it is?

The veggies... and it's ready!

My ube buridibod cooking. As is the "tradition" in dinengdeng-making, I put in the ube when the bugguong broth bubbled, for it to cook first and when it's tender, the veggies to be cooked briefly to retain its "greenery" and crispness--the pallang is somewhat sweet when it's not overcooked:

And here's it again, in its fullness and basicness (no sagpaw this time, just plain ube and veggies). Again, I made the ube gave in its starchy richness to thicken and sweeten the broth and the whole of the dinengdeng/buridibod:

It's so good, I almost ate the dinengdeng solo (alunos), with almost no rice! How about that?

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kardis, kadyos, pigeon peas

Dinengdeng a kardis with saluyot. [Photo from Sikat ang Camiling]

Kardis (kadyos, pigeon pea, also called "pusi" in Ilocos region when dried), is an important vegetable legume all throughout the Philippines, in either its young pod or its dried seeds.It is the "K" in the popular KBL dish in the Visayas, the kadyos-baboy-langka combination of a dish of boiled pork knuckles and/or hocks. Ilokanos simply make the young pods and seeds into a dinengdeng with leafy greens or other legumes. The pusi is also simply boiled (pinablad) with meat or dried fish, like balatong or other beans.

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