Serve it as it is, or a main ingredient to their recipes? These vegetable leaves are really in every day’s meal of the common Ilocano or the people living in the Ilocandia provinces. Why? Because these leaves are just commonly grown in the farm field, in the bushes, in the mountains, in the creek, or just in their backyard.
Two, mostly recipes make these leaves special. One, as a salad; second, as pinaksiw. Either of which, these recipes are elementary way of cooking the leaves.
So, what are these leaves?
1. Saluyot (jute) leaves. Cook as pinaksiw (vinegar as the main ingredient added with garlic, onion, a little bit of pepper, sometimes ginger, salt and a little bit of msg). The green leaves turn into a brownish color. Traditionally, they harvest young leaves in the farm field, cook it in clay pot, first layering it with banana leaves. Oh no, the dulas thing will be minimized already.
2. Ampalaya (bitter
gourd) leaves. Cook as salad and paksiw. Not just the ampalaya leaves you buy
in the market, these are not preferred because they are usually not organic.
The ampalaya (or paria in Ilocano) I’m talking about are those wild ampalaya
sprouting and thriving in the bushes or in the hills. Yes, the native variety.
Smaller in sizes and the bitter is stronger, but you know what, you’ll gonna
love the bitterness. The wild ampalaya leaves are more bitter but there is
something you will love to have it again. How? Simple boil a water in the pan
and then add the taste ingredients then add the leaves. Bring it out of the pan
and serve. Enjoy.
3. Sayote leaves. The leaves alone are for so many recipes: salad, paksiw, stir fry, among others. Any of which, the leaves are just so cool to have for lunch and dinner. Well, Ilocano have it also in their table. But sayote don’t grow in low land areas, they usually thrive in cold places and usually in highlands. But does not mean not to have it in the salad as salad or stirred fry. People just love to buy the leaves they usually called “ugsa” or “uggot ti sayote”, in translation, sayote tops.
4. Kangkong (horse radish) leaves. Preferre as salad. Yeah, yeah, this is not just an Ilocano leaves. It is for Filipino table. But we cannot neglect the young leaves and stems because of the good taste when salad and even paksiw. So abundant during the rainy reason where they usually grow in the fields. During summer season they are also abundant in the creeks, ponds, farm fields where there is water. And yes this is a cheap vegetable.
5. Kalunay (spinach) leaves. Cook as salad. This is not so common unlike the first 4 above. Ilocano want kalunay leaves for their pig’s feet (or kukod) recipes. But this is also good for salad. There is the wild varieties which smaller, when sprouted from the field you have to harvest it, as small as that. The bigger varieties are usually grown in the field though it is usually sprouting in the backyard. There is also the variety with thorn. But all of them can be a good menu for salad, you bet.
