Bulanglang Batangas

Bulanglang Batangas. Now that the celebrations are over and most of us have provably gain a few inches on the tape and a few grams on the scale from feasting on those cholesterol and sugar laden foods during these fast week. It’s about time to have a healthier food. And what would be a more appropriate than a simple vegetable soap dish of bulanglang.

This popular simple vegetable dish of boiled vegetables is similar to dinengdeng and utan. See my previous post on dinengdeng and utan ug buwad. It is equally simple to prepare, Batangas style bulanglang is a medley of fresh vegetables boiled in rice washing with garlic, ginger and tomatoes. It is very important though to know which vegetables should go on the boiling rice stock. First to go are the aromatics, ginger, garlic and tomato. Then the kalabasa which must be cooked until it nearly disintegrate to add texture to the broth, next are the fruit vegetables like papaya, sitaw, sigarillas, okra ect, then lastly the leafy vegetables and of course season only with salt. Vegetables should just be crisp boiled, these dish is nutritious and delicious vegetable soup that is served alongside anything fried or broiled.

Ingredients:

1 small size papaya, sliced
1 bundle malunggay leaves, removed from stem
2 cups kalabasa, cut into wedges
1 bundle sitaw, cut into 2” length
2 bundle sigarillas, cut into wedges
1 bundle okra, cut into wedges
1 medium size tomato, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumb size ginger, sliced
6-8 cup rice stock (water from washing rice)
salt

Cooking procedure:

Wash thoroughly all vegetables. Boil rice stock in a large pot, add ginger, garlic and tomato cook until tomato become soggy. Add kalabasa and simmer until kalabasa is firm tender. Add sitaw, okra and sigarillas continue simmering until just cooked. Season with salt to taste. Add malunggay and cook until malungay is just cooked. Serve immediately.