FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Laswa is among the most popular Ilonggo vegetable dish and among my most "blogged" about. It has so many variations despite it's simplicity and mostly dependent on the the availability of vegetables. Usually it has kalabasa, talong, okra, hantak (sitaw), tagabang (saluyot), patola and a host of other vegetables. For this recipe puso ng saging (banana heart) was added not only as "extender" but to add some texture. Cooking laswa is simple - just stew the vegetables and subak (usually fresh seafoods like shrimps, crabs, or even snails locals call bango-ngon ) then season with salt or use broth cubes . Others prefer to use dried and salted seafoods like pinakas for it adds more flavour to the dish at the same time makes this vegetable dish more appetizing. Or at times this is solely a vegetable dish (no subak whatsoever) and is perfect partnered with fried or grilled meat and fish. No matter how you cook it or what you partn...

Though not having the ingredients of a typical laswa dish, this merry mix of vegetables bought from the market and grown in our backyard still brings the gastronomical pleasure of a simple laswa dish. Just stew all the available vegetables with seasoning and subak of choice, and within minutes, you'll have a a delicious and nutritious dish. There's gastronomy in simplicity - and this is clearly manifested in this simple vegetable dish Ilonggos call laswa .

Laswa is among the quintessential native Ilonggo dish you'd find in most homes and turo-turo  places in the region. It is basically a stew of an assortment of vegetables like kalabasa, talong and saluyot among others. Others have sitaw, takway , patola, sigarilya s and even puso ng saging . Salt is the basic seasoning and seafood are the most popular sahog especially shrimps, crabs, kalkag and dried fish.   But another dried seafood made its way to the list of sahog s as a few days ago, I was surprised that the laswa on our table dried locus (squid) as the sahog . Maybe we ran out of the usual sahog and there was only a pack of dried squid in fridge making it the perfect candidate for the laswa . Despite being in a soupy dish, the squid still proved to be tough and I prefer it to be eaten fried or roasted - with lots of sinamak .

One of the simplest dishes in the plethora of Ilonggo cuisine is laswa. This dish is one of the most versatile vegetable dish for it can include any vegetable you can find. Most of the ingredients can be easily found in the market or even just in your backyard garden. The most common ingredients are kalabasa, sitaw, talong, saluyot and takway. Other veggies can be added to or me made "in lieu" of like malunggay for saluyot. Also good for laswa are patola, puso ng saging, sgarilyas and a lot more. Just mix and match, add salt to taste or use dried fish to flavour if shrimps aren't around .

Seafood and vegetables often make a good medley when cooked together. A few of the celebrated Ilonggo vegetable dishes are made with this combination like laswa and ginata-ang tambo . Others like nilatik or the Ilonggo adaptation of pinakbet can also be revised to include seafood. Laswa is probably the simplest among the Ilonggo vegetable dishes. Its a stew of differnet kinds of vegetables usually kalabasa (squash) , tagabang (saluyot) , hantak (string beans) , okra , talong (eggplant), takway (taro plant tendrils) and a lot more. Dried seafood like pinakas na guma-a (daing) or balingon (dilis) often accompanies this recipe for the saltiness of the fishes add flavour to the mix of vegetables. Another favorite is ginat-an na tambo (bamboo shoots with coconut milk). Shrimps and/or crabs create a perfect dish in combination with the bamboo shoots, saluyot and at times, corn all cooked together in coconut milk. Another coconut milk based vegetable dish is the quintessential ni...

How about laswa , pinamalhan nga bilong-bilong and pancit canton ? Just a typical noontime meal for people here in Iloilo but for Ilonggos residing elsewhere especially out of the country, it could spell a glorious meal of old favorites or dishes they haven't had for a long time. Usually the pinamalhan nga bilong bilong often gets the most cravings since it's a rather hard to find fish even outside the region. A silvery flat fish often cooked pinamalhan but also delectable when sinugba , pinirito or binuro . It is considered the Ilonggos signature fish for it seems non Ilonggos are haven't discovered it yet. Then there's laswa - the Ilonggo mixed vegetable stew cooked in the simplest way with the freshest vegetables one can find. Usually It has okra, kalabasa, saluyot, talong, patola , etc but the addition of puso ng saging makes it even more fiber enriched and adds texture. Now who can say no to this dish? And lastly just a typical pancit canton with meat an...

It was another healthy combination for lunch today as I feasted on laswa and "tortang" lobo-lobo . Everybody (now) knows that laswa is a popular Ilonggo vegetable dish that consists of an assortment of vegetables stewed? with a seafood of choice. Mostly it would be shrimps, crabs or bago-ngon . But among the more popular " lakot " would be pinakas nga guma-a (halved, salted and dried guma-a fish) that would also help in flavouring the dish. Lobo-lobo on the other hand are tiny fishes (as small as kalkag or alamang). As I have blogged before I only know two ways of cooking them, one if torta and the other is sinabawan with thse lobo-lobo wrapped in banana leaves. But this one seems to have combine both.

Just had my fill of vitamins, minerals and fiber today courtesy of my laswa lunch. This dish is one of the most versatile vegetable dish for it can include any vegetable you can find. It's also easy prepare; just boil them and add salt to taste. You can even use dried fish as for flavour and for "meat"

Not vacation-leave but valenciana and laswa - two Ilonggo favorites. These two are among the staples of an Ilonggo "diet"; laswa complementing any fried or grilled ulam while valenciana appearing mostly in parties,fiestas and other special occasions. Valenciana is the local adaptation of the paella and almost a complete meal in itself. It consists of pork cutlets, pork liver, green peas, bell peppers, raisins among others then cooked and seasoned together with malagkit rice. Laswa on the other hand is an assorted vegetable stew mainly consisting of talong, kalabasa, takway, patola, okra or any vegetable available. This combo was made even special with my current addiction, a mango-calamansi juice mix!

Well loved by Ilonggos, laswa is the traditional vegetable stew made with a variety of vegetables and seafoods. This in particularhas tagabang (saluyot), puso ng saging, takway and eggplant cooked with shrimps. Photos courtesy of LABETH of SkyscraperCity forum

Lunch today was something unsual. Who whould ever though of topping adobo rice with laswa ?

LASWA is an Ilonggo version of mixed vegetable soup. A quick dish to cook using vegetables including kalabasa, okra, patola, sitaw, takway, talong with saluyot, malunggay or alugbati leaves as greens. Shrimps, crabs or local snails called bago-ngon can be added as sahog. It’s a smorgasbord of different ingredients.

Got my daily dose of fiber today from this plateful of green vegetables. It has tagabang, balunggay, okra and patola with bago-ngon . A timely dish to wash away the "excesses" of the Christmas season and also a perfect preparation for the New Year indulgence to come. Bagongon is a local edible snail sold by the can in wet markets.

I just love today's combination, laswa and crispy fried fish (dipped in calamansi )but I forgot what it's called. Ofcourse, it was another pizza rice surprise when my nephew saw salami slices on the breakfast table.

Pancit lang-lang aka tawsiam aka pancit molo noodles Laswa with bago-ngon Pinamalhan nga lopoy

One great simple dish deserves more photos, its laswa overload.