#14_ Gulay

Halo-Halo(ng) gulay (mixed veggies)

Ohhh my gulay!

Everybody around here is harvesting their crops before the temperature drops. One of my friends harvested some of her immature squash the other day and gave me one, it was so young and tender that I didn't need to peel it. She grew the variety that is grown widely in the Philippines (our very own kalabasa). She also gave me some of the blossoms.

Gulay in Tagalog, pising in Pangasinan, dinengdeng in Ilocano. Its very versatile kind of viand as one can pretty much put everything in a pot...anything! Mix and match kind of thing. With the squash I added in what I had in my freezer: talong and string beans which were extra from making some kare-kare about 2 weeks ago. Then I also had some cooked pork spare ribs in the freezer. Back home, mother always used shrimps instead of meat for her sabong. (does anyone know the translation of sabong to Tagalog and English?) I thawed them out in the microwave. So I had some Gulay in no time.

How to make this dish:

Saute some chopped garlic and chopped onions in a little canola oil. ( of course heat up the oil first). Then add the cooked pork and saute for few minutes. (If you don't have pork ready, you need to saute the meat then simmer til its tender). With the pork, add the squash and string beans(sitaw) and continue to saute for few minutes. Pour in about 3-4 cups water (rice water is better). Let boil, then add some alamang bagoong. Add the eggplants and okra. Cover and let simmer until the veggies are tender. Add the squash blossoms last. Adjust seasoning, in this case, bagoong alamang. Mangan tayo la! (kain na!)

#9_ Tortang Talong and Fried Zucchini

My friend Liza had a birthday luncheon for her husband and among the many dishes she served was the Tortang Talong. Wish I had brought my camera with me because I don't think I can duplicate her presentation. It was so impressive and beautiful that I felt like I didn't want to dig in. It's a good thing somebody else dug into it first.

Tortang talong is not new to me as it is a childhood viand and I've always fixed it for myself since I left home. But never thought of the idea of accompanying it with relish of mangoes and tomatoes. It is an ordinary dish but when dressed up, is so enhancing. She said she got the idea from a newly opened Filipino restaurant (only one in the valley) where they went to eat the week before.

Today, I'm not even going to attempt to present it like she did...maybe a little close, just to give you an idea. I will throw in some fried zucchinis as I have one sitting in the fridge from a friend's garden. About those fish on the platter...they're breaded catfish from Texas Road House where we had dinner last night. I'm not a meat person so that's what I always order when we go there. Yah, you're right, sistah! that's a platter full of grease! As Aida always says "nakakamatay".....hindi bali we only live once. We oughta eat what we enjoy eating once in a while!

You'll need:
3 medium size Japanese eggplants
2 eggs (or more)
salt
canola oil


For the Relish:
1 Medium size tomatoes
1 ripe mango
alamang na bagoong
Onion, chopped (optional)
Cilantro, chopped (optional

Procedure:
1. Turn the oven to broil
2. Make few pierces on the eggplants with tines of a fork. Put the eggplants on a cookie sheet lined with aluminm foil (for easy clean up)and put it under the broiler (top rack), turning them around as they get charred so all sides get broiled evenly. Peel off the charred skins
3. Beat the eggs and add some salt
4. In a fry pan, heat some oil
5. Dip each eggplant into the beaten eggs pressing down with a fork to flatten them
6. Fry each side in hot oil, turning just once
7. Drain on paper towels

NOTE:
Actually, I fried the zucchinis first which have been cut diagonally. Its exactly the same procedure as for frying the eggplants...dipping each slice in the beaten eggs, fry each side in hot oil, turning once. I even used the same pan and oil for frying the eggplants. Choose zucchinis that are young and tender and don't need to peel them.

#2_Ginisang Upo

What is UPO?!! For those of you who aren't familiar with UPO, you might think its an acronym for something. No, these three letters are a word for a vegetable! Yes, very short name for a long size vegetable. They can be as long as two feet when mature and are similar to zucchinis. According to the Philippine Medicinal Plants, by Godofredo Stuart, one of its scientific names is LAGENARIA SICERARIA. Upo's other names are bottle gourd ( Engl.), white pumpkin
( Engl.), Hu-lu (Chin), and others.

There are several ways to cook Upo but my favorite is with shrimps and alamang na bagoong....it must be the Pangasinan and Ilocano blood in me. My friend Erlinda and her family grow them every year along with other plants in their backyard. This summer they gave me one which was more than 2 feet long. In Utah, this is a real treat as this kind of vegetable is scarce.

How to cook the UPO:

First, prep the veggie by cutting both ends off then depending on the size, cut it into quarters crosswise. Take the quartered pieces and cut them into quarters again, but this time, lenghtwise. Scrape out the white part inside where the seeds are hiding, then using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off each piece and slice them thinly across. It is more time consuming to prep this veggie than to cook it, but its all worth the effort. When cooking I just eyeball the amount of ingredients. You can't go wrong with this dish.

Ingredients:

Cooking oil
Sliced upo
Shrimps, cleaned and deviened
Garlic, minced
Onion, finely chopped
Bagoong na alamang

1. In a large skillet or wok, heat some oil and lightly brown the minced garlic
2. Stir in the onion and saute until they turn transluscent
3. Toss in the shrimps and continue to saute for about a minute
4. Stir in the sliced upo and the alamang na bagoong, continue to stir until all the ingredients are well blended together. Put the lid on and simmer until the upo are wilted and cooked, stirring occasionally.

Note that I didn't put any liquid in, that's because the upo will render some liquid in the process. Adding liquid will result to a "soupy" dish.

Note from MaMely:
Light up a scented candles while cooking this dish so the amoy ng bagoong will not linger around the house. It works every time I cook something with bagoong.

My friend, Erlinda harvesting Upo
in her backyard for me.