Tasty Tuesday #71 Entry: Bulanglang

Last week, my husband made a request for a vegetable meal by mentioning me on a recipe post on facebook. What can I say, we live in modern times, making a request can be done digitally.

I have heard about this native Filipino dish and all I knew about it is that it's a different version of Pinakbet. Whether it originated from Pampanga or Batangas, I could not be certain but one thing is for sure, this dish is not just easy to prepare, it is fully packed with all the nutrition from different vegetables.

I searched for other recipes online and found this version of the dish. I figured that the ingredients may vary from one recipe to another. Batangas version has crispy tawilis in them, there's also a version that includes milkfish in the recipe. I also found a recipe that uses fish paste instead of shrimp paste. The one I cooked today is a combination of the recipe my husband shared to me on facebook and the one I found in the internet, both mentioned above. I wouldn't say this is my own recipe but I'd put it as a fusion of the two versions.

Ingredients:

Pork cut into small cubes
Hibe**
kalabasa
Green Papaya
Okra
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Ginger
Shrimp paste
Salt & pepper to taste
rice washing

_{**I wanted to add hibe just because I love the taste of the hibe I found in the supermarket and I plan to add it on my other cooking processes.}

Direction

1. In a heated pan, cook pork until golden brown. Set aside.
2. In the same pan, sautee onions, garlic, onions and tomatoes for at up to 2 minutes or until tomatoes are soft.
3. Add the green papaya. You'd want to add this first among all the veggies because this has the longest cooking time.
4. Add the okra. Mix thoroughly.
5. Once the okra changes into a slightly darker color, you may then add the kalabasa. Add the eggplant shortly after.
6. Pour in 3-4 cups of rice washing. Add in the hibe and shirmp paste. Let boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Season with salt & freshly ground black pepper as needed.

As much as possible, I want to make sure that the vegetable meals I prepare will be delicious since I am introducing a lot of vegetables to my kid. I'd like to keep her vegetable dining as enjoyable as possible. And that has been a goal I have whenever I prepare our meals.

For my bulanglang trial, she ate a second serving which makes this experiment a success. To be honest, this is the first time I tasted bulanglang and I am positive I am going to try to cook the other versions on my next tries. I think I'll try the Tawilis version. How about you?