utong tops stew/soup with dried shrimps

Utong (string beans or cowpea) is one of my favorite veggie. Sumptous, delicious greens. Be it fruit stewed or in soup, or in a crisp salad (boiled/blanched young fruit) with bugguong juice and tomato slices, or sautéed, or in its adobo version; or the bukel, seeds, the beans itself boiled or napabellad (napablad) sautéed in lots of garlic and onions and garnished with paria or marunggay or kalunay or camote or bilonak (also called kubay, alugbati in Tagalog) or talinum, and virtually all green leafy veggies you can imagine or can take in.

Utong. String beans, that is. pardon, but i'm not talking about the Tagalog utong (which, btw, is equally sumptous, they say).

And utong tops or shoots, of course. I usually dengdeng, stew, string bean tops as solo, without the usual partnership of other tops and green leaves. Although I also love it as a salad (bolied or blanched and tossed with bugguong and slices of tamatis (kamatis) and young lasona (shallot) (that's KBL of the Ilokanos--kamatis-bugguong-lasona). But I love the glorious soup out of it, the inherent sabeng or pas-eng--the distinct "aroma" akin to marunggay's or alukon's "fragrance" when cooked.

And when available, I add this great dried shrimp fry (called daing a kuros) to further enhance the flavor and aroma of the broth.

Flavor it with the preferred amount of bugguong. Make it that it won't become too salty. To moderate saltiness, put in just the right amount of bugguong so you won't need to add table salt. I don't add salt or patis to my dinengdengs. Bugguong itself is salt, so why add more salt?

Don't overcook the tops. Make it just as crispy and succulent as you would with the salad version. Optionally, you can add some slices of tomato just before you serve.

Here, isn't it heavenly--ambrosial--with that golden soup?

(Originally blogged October 20, 2008)

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agurong in coconut milk con marunggay leaves

Agurong is a common black freshwater mollusk with elongated spiral shell usually found in abundance in creeks (waig) and rivers (karayan). We also call it leddangan in Nueva Vizcaya. It is similar in shape to the smaller and slender suso and the more smaller duriken. But agurong's meat is different from suso's or duriken's. Suso's is somewhat pumal-it or bittery. While duriken, well, you cannot even eat duriken's tiny meat as duriken is usually cracked and boiled or blanched just for its tasty, bittery soup. Nowadays, you can find agurong sold in the local markets, but suso shell is very rare. And I have yet to see a duriken for sale (when I was a young lad, in our place, we used to pick suso and duriken in a river nearby, and agurong in a creek a few meters away from our house).

Agurong is cooked in a variety of ways. It can be simply boiled in lots of tomatoes and gingers and onions and with baraniw (lemon grass) just like tukmem (bennek, dukkiang, or bukkaig; small freshwater clams).

And it's perfect in coconut milk as well, just like leddeg or bisukol (freshwater black shells). And usually, with marunggay leaves, just like marunggay in crabs cooked with coconut milk. Using getta (ccoconut milk) may not be exclusively Ilokano, by the way, as it is more identified with Bikol cuisine. But Ilokanos do also love getta like in ginettaan (another term is "sinursuran") nga aba or taro leaves/stalks/root/shoots cooked in coconut milk.

So here's how I came with my agurong in coconut milk with marunggay leaves. First of all, prepare agurong by washing and rinsing it throughly (you do arasaw, just like rinsing any shellfish) and repeatedly until the wash water is somewhat clear. See to it also that you discard any dead agurong (dead ones usually smell and float).

Next, the cutting . You have to cut off its "tail end," the apex of its spiral shell. This is so it is possible for you to suck the meat out later (through your mouth or lips; mind you, eating agurong is a "lips-to-lips" activity, although you can pick the meat out by using a toothpick or the thorn of the sua or pomelo tree). Severing off the tail will let air pass to easily extract the meat out when you sultop (suck out) it. Use a large enough knife or preferably a bolo because the agurong's shell is thick and kind of hard.

When you are through with the cutting, wash the shells again to discard shell bits and remnants.

Then, the cooking. At this juncture, we assume you already have made the coconut milk earlier and the getta (gata in Tagalog) is ready (or if you prefered instant gata mix, you already diluted the coconut milk powder in water). Boil the getta for some time. Do not boil all the mixture, separate some amount of milk (preferably the first squeezeful or the umuna a pespes [kakang gata in Tagalog], if you made it from fresh coconut), about a cupful will do. While boiling you can blend in sliced onions, crushed garlic, and crushed ginger. Afterwhich you can now add in the agurong shells. Cook until tender (but do not overcook the shell, else the meat will "kumuttong" or become "thin" or shrunken). Season with salt. Just before you serve, add in the marunggay leaves and pour in the reserved coconut milk. Do not overcook the marunggay.

Here's the end result:

Ahh, what a plenty of sweety oily and fragrant lips to kiss!

(Originally blogged December 17, 2008)

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uong ken lantong-utong, wild mushroom with young bean stalks/shoots

This is edible wild mushroom (uong or u-ong), variably called uong-kalaw, uong-bunton, uong-kimat, or uong-managadu. Uong-kalaw because some folks say this mushroom might be produced or induced by the bird called kalaw (in what way I really don't know, anyway). Uong-bunton because it usually grows around some anthills (bunton) or "termite queendoms" or on moist reddish and clayish earth. And uong-kimat and uong-managadu because it really is induced by lightning and they grow and sprout abundantly in the night after a rainy, thunderstorm-y afternoon or dusk, to be picked in the early morning.

This one kind of wild mushroom is perfect for soups with leafy greens like saluyot, paria (bittermelon) especially the wild ones called paria ti bakir or paria a balang, marunggay, camote, kalunay or kuantong (spinach), or any other edible tops and shoots and young leaves an Ilokano can imagine.

The sweet wild uong broth is so savory and so tasty it's as if it is what vetsin or MSG or umami is made from. I also like the slippery saluyot-like texture of this particular mushroom. Which just suits well with green leafy veggies with somewhat coarse or rough texture like saluyot itself and that of the leaves, stalks and shoots of utong (string beans, also called cowpea). It also blends well with nasabeng a bulbulong or greens with a peculiar smell of tartness or sharpness (napas-eng) like that of marunggay and young alukon leaves and again, string bean leaves.

This time, I decided a mushroom and string bean leaves combination. Freshly picked utong leaves are in abundance in the market along with this seasonal wild mushrooms.

You'll have to clean and wash the mushrooms thoroughly but do not squeeze them thoroughly else all that sweetness and tastiness of its succulence will be sucked out. Remove all traces of dirt or earth and wash and rinse it in running tap water. Also, as this kind of mushroom is prone to attack by some unsightly and very tiny pinkish and whitish worm, inspect the mushrooms for they might be starting to grow in there, between the filmy strands (called "gills") under the mushroom cap. "Older" mushrooms (those fully grown) which are starting to wilt or wither are suspects of being invaded by these worms, they even dig themselves in the stem.

A mushroom soup should not be too salty so put in just a mild amount of bugguong in the boiling water. Some do not like bugguong in their mushroom soup at all because they claim the bugguong will overwhelm the broth and it will become "naangdod" or smelly/bugguong-y; you can use just table salt, if you prefer. Or just put in a few drops of bugguong juice just for the heck of it to be called inabraw or dinengdeng the Ilokano way (nabugguongan or binugguongan).

Anyway, because of the utong tops, I need to neutralize the "sabeng" or "pas-eng" with a right quantity of bugguong sauce.

Optionally, you can put in some onion slices, some crushed garlic "teeth" for aroma and flavor. And then put in the mushrooms and let boil and simmer (in the bubbling water already flavored with bugguong). When the mushrooms are cooked, put in the utong tops and simmer for some time. Do not overcook the utong leaves, make it just crispy succulent. You can put in some tomato slices just before you serve it, if you prefer. Serve immediately.

And here's it:

Enjoy the savory soup and the slick mushroom goodness!

A closer look:

(Originally blogged November 14, 2008)

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kilawen a pako, fiddlehead fern salad

Pako. One of my "favoritest" edible leafy greens. And "favorited" greens as salad. As is. Yes, as it is, freshly picked or plucked edible fern (also called fiddlehead fern because of the barikawwet or coils of its shoots) tossed in fresh calamansi or kalamunding or dalayap fuit juice and bugguong sauce. As simple as that. Some prefer to slightly blanch it or even parboil it. But I prefer to kilaw it fresh to enjoy its crunchy and slippery raw state. This slippery texture of the pako is diminished when cooked. Pako is also a good companion to dinengdeng a bulbulong (stewed/boiled leafy greens) and sinigang or paksiw nga ikan (boiled, soured fish). And it's great with pinablad a balatong (boiled mung beans) or other boiled legumes. It's also good as sinursuran or ginettaan (cooked with coconut milk) like ginettaan nga aba (yam leaves/stalks with coconut milk).

So, here's it, my simple recipe, pako shoots and leaves and stalks cut then tossed in calamansi juice, bugguong sauce, some vetsin (MSG) if you like. Garnish it with some onion slices if you like. You can even put in sliced tomato, if you prefer.

Enjoy the ngarusngos act (chewing)! Perfect as appetizer:

(Originally blogged October 31, 2008)

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karabasa & utong, squash goodies and string beans stew

This is my usual dinengdeng. Simple, fast, easy, delicious way of cooking veggies with bugguong.

Used here are flowers, tops and fruit of the karabasa (squash), and utong (young string beans, not to be mistaken to mean the Tagalog word).

First things first, the muri or the process of taking or picking out the non-essentials. These are the "beginnings" and "ends" of the string beans and squash tops and flower stalks, which are cut, and with the squash tops "skinned," its stem's hairy peel removed and its coarse leaves "crumpled" (like paper, to neutralize its roughness). And the peeling and gutting and cubing of the squash fruit. And the "deflowering" by removing the sepals and stamens or pistils of the squash flower. But when I muri squash flowers, I do not remove the yellow, pollen-crusted stamen or the "buto-buto." Traditionally, this is a non-essential part of this edible flower and is therefore mercilessly severed ala-Lorena Bobbitt (remember her?) and discarded and thrown away as if it is an odious and evil thing. Some say it is bitter. But not for me, I like the bittery sweetness of the squash buto-buto. For one, it should not be removed so as to prevent the oozing out of the precious nectar pool at its base. This nectar naturally sweetens the broth later. Remove only the buto-buto when it is inevitable as in some extreme cases when it is already rotten or when the base was infested by some worms. So when you muri the flower, check the stamen base for some nasty unsightly creatures. But spare the buto. You'll never regret saving it. It's so heavenly sweet and so wickedly yummy, delicious, the buto is.

Now, to the cooking of the dinengdeng!

The standard Ilokano way of stewing veggies or boiling veggies, dinengdeng and inabraw, is boiling water in a pot and then the obligatory panamguong (panamagbugguong) process.

As much as possible, use "real" bugguong. I mean the one with the rotting, errrr, fermenting fishes intact in it, the munamon, the mataan, and the tirong variety are the most preferred. Not the "instant" bottled or canned liquefied bugguong paste or sauce. Using an instant bugguong denies you a great chance of the noble task of making a hearty and splendid dinengdeng. If you want to really labor and savor the Ilokano dinengdeng, do the panagbugguong act called segseg--the process of extracting the essence of the bugguong into your dinengdeng broth. You put some bugguong, both fish and sauce, in a malukong (bowl) and ladle some boiling water into it and then, with careful and gentle tapping of the ladle's lip against the bugguong paste, extricate flesh from fishbone, mash into a puree-like mush, make it pulpy to extract the soul of the bugguong out of its fleshy and earthly corpus. And then separate and segregate pulped and mashed fishbone from liquid by carefully pouring the puree back into the bubling pot. Be very, very careful of this required calculated pouring act lest some tiny bits of fishbone escape and fall into the broth--it will spoil the entirety of the dinengdeng if there are tiny spurs in it, nobody will ever love a "kasegsegseg a dinengdeng" as it will cause an unpleasant irritation in the mouth and palate.

And then, and then, and then, boil the bugguong broth some more to eradicate its "angdod" or raw smell. Then put in the cubed squash fruit first and let some time to simmer for it to soften. If you prefer, you can put in a crushed "teeth" of garlic and some slices of fresh onion for aroma and flavor. After which, put in the string beans. Cook it some more. Finally, a minute or two before you serve it, put in the squash shoots (tops) and flowers. At this juncture, you can slip some tomato slices in the broth to moderate the salty greed of the bugguong, enhancing the flavor. The flowers should not be overcooked. Cook it just enough for the sweetness of the nectar in its ovule to blend with the broth. Serve immediately while piping hot, scoop up the squash flowers and tops and place atop the heap to prevent over-wilting, eat at once to take advantage of its sweet crisp succulence.

(Originally posted November 4, 2006)

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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)

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