Bulanglang na Gulay at Hipon (Boiled Vegetables and Shrimp)
A year ago I posted a lechon kawali recipe. Today being Father’s Day, I found myself revisiting and reliving the emotions so raw, so real, so pure written in that post. How was I to know then that a few months later, I will be slumped on my bathroom floor, heartsick and broken with the realization that the promises of love eternal, of hands clasped even when old, gray and wizened were mine alone? The thing is, in every relationship’s demise, you actually feel the descend of the end and yet, when it finally happens, you are still taken aback, caught off-guard, thrown off your stand by the reality of it all. In my chicken with twenty cloves of garlic post, you will read my public laundering, albeit subtlely, of my bedroom sheets. I suppose I had to. I needed a place to express my grief.
Yes, of course, the preceding life’s tale has so nothing to do with this bulanglang na gulay at hipon recipe. Excuse me, please? Regardless of my display of bravado, there are still BAD days. There are still moments when I have to reaffirm to myself that I am A-okay. This is one of those days, this is one of those moments. Already then, let’s move on to the dish. This was actually prepared by my bestfriend, Priscilla, with most of the vegetables purchased fresh from our recent trip to a farmer’s market in Cerritos. If you live in the US or abroad and some of the vegetables are not available in your local Asian markets, subsitute. Say, saluyot leaves, they are added to thicken the broth but a handful of okra will also do the trick. Although Priscilla did not use them here, consider kalabasa (squash) and its flowers, patani (lima beans), sigarillas (winged bean), kamote tops, tomatoes, labuyo (thai pepper) leaves and sitaw (long beans) as good additions to this vegetable recipe.
Ingredients
4 to 5 cups water
2 to 3 tbsps alubaybay (fermented salted fish sauce)
10 to 12 pieces shrimp, head on
1 eggplant, halved and sliced to 1/2 thick pieces
1 ampalaya (bittermelon), halved, seeded and sliced to 1/2 inch thick pieces
1 bunch saluyot (jute) leaves, separated from stem (around 2 cups)
1 bunch ampalaya (bittermelon) leaves, separated from stem (around 2 cups)
1 to 2 patola (sponge gourd), peeled and sliced to 1/2 thick rounds
2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 onion, peeled and sliced
salt or patis (fish sauce)
Procedure
In a deep pot, bring water with alubaybay, garlic and onions into a boil.
Add saluyot leaves. Lower heat to a simmer and cook leaves until tender, around 6 to 10 minutes.
Add patola, eggplant, ampalaya and shrimp. Continue to cook until shrimp turns pink and vegetables are tender.
Add ampalaya leaves and cook until limp.
Season with additional salt or fish sauce as needed.
Vegetable Delights in The CookMobile Archive:
Kalabasang Ukoy (Squash and Shrimp Fritter)
More Good Food!
Lalaine,
You and Lianne both look very beautiful. Check out those white high heels you are wearing, hahaha. Time sure has flown by. We are the same people but at the same time different. I miss your friendship and I am looking forward when we get to talk again despite our very busy schedules. Call me sometime and we will catch up. Take care and regards to your family!
Oh yeah btw I willl definitely try this recipe. Will let you know.
Hazel
Hello Zel. Yep, we definitely need to get on the phone and catch up! But I guess that’s the beauty of a 25-year old friendship (I think more like 30, right?), we can go on for months not hearing from each other and still know we ARE friends.
Time sure flies fast. Hey, its our birthday next month…GOSH Zel! We are close to 40! Doesn’t Liane look so much like me when we were oh so young?
The white shoes? Ha ha ha I know. What was I thinking? In my defense, though, those platform shoes were all the craze in Tokyo when I bought them there yeeears ago. I will be emailing you some recent photos. I cropped my hair real short and colored it a gawdy brown. Again, what was I thinking? Ha ha ha chasing Father Time, I suppose.
Give my regards to Rob and your mom, my kisses to baby Mason.
It’s been a while since I visited your blog, so I’m really sorry to hear about your troubles. Your daughter sure is beautiful though, just like her mommy
I went beyond the front page for this recipe because it is something that my lola used to cook all the time and I loved it. I hope when the veggies from my garden comes in I can make a pot of this.
Take care!
Thanks Jmom. I am much better now. Much as we want it to, life does not stop rolling along.
Enjoy the recipe. I’ve never had it until my friend prepared it for me and I very much enjoyed it.
Aww you look so cute together. Yep I agree, time DOES fly so fast!
Hi Lalaine,
Yeah, you look pretty like your daughter on that photo.
Take care.
I liked the blog
Hi Jackie
Thanks for the visit. Yes, definitely time flies so fast. A few days ago, I was filling gas and the attendant kept calling me “Madam.” Darn it, was it not just yesterday when I was addressed as “Miss”?
Hi Edwin
Oh stop, you are making an old woman blush. Hahahaha Thanks for the visit.
Hello!
I came accross your blog when i was searching for a bulanglang recipe. I am sorry abt what happened
I hope you are better now.
Mother and daughter pics…so sweeeet!.
Thanks and keep posting!