Batso nga Tabungao

Batso nga Tabungao is one of my favorite Ilocano vegetable dish. It is a ginisang upo flavored and colored with annatto. The only difference from the regular ginisang upo is the way it is cut up, the upo is diced into small pieces instead of slices.

The annatto gives a distinctive taste to the vegetable and the vibrant orange tint which gives an added visual appeal to the dish. It is important not to overcook the vegetable.

Ingredients:

200 g. pork, boiled, diced
250 g. small size shrimp
1 medium size upo, diced
1/2 head garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, chopped
1 big size tomato, chopped
1/4 c. patis
cooking oil
salt
2 tbsp. annatto water extracted
from 1/2 cup anatto seeds

Cooking procedure:

Wash shrimp thoroughly and drain. Remove head, peel off shell and tail of each shrimp. Set aside head, shell and tail. Slice each shrimp at the back and remove intestine. Using pestle and mortar pound shrimp head, shell and tail to extract juices, dilute in 2 c. of warm water. Pass thru a sieve to separate shells from the juice. Set aside shrimp juice. In a sauce pan, sauté garlic, onion and tomato. Add pork and shrimp, stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in patis and shrimp juice cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add upo and annatto water, simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until the upo is half cooked, season with salt to taste. Serve hot

See other Ginisa Vegetable Recipes; 

Ginisang Labanos 
Sautéed Broiled Eggplant 
Ampalaya with Egg 
Ginisang Sayote 
Ginisang Sitaw at Sigarillas 
Ginisang Bulaklak ng Kalabasa 
Saluyot at Labong 
Ginisang Ampalaya 
Ginisang Sitaw at Pritong Tilapia 
Ginisang Pechay 
Ginisang Upo