Give Your Diet a Healthier Turn With This Farm-to-Table Specialty
A classic example of sinabawang gulay, Laswa can satisfy your cravings for leafy greens
Ever since we were kids, our parents would tell us that eating vegetables is essential in order to grow stronger and healthier—and they weren’t wrong, of course. Incorporating vegetables to our meals is vital in ensuring a balanced diet. As a country with an abundance of fresh produce, vegetable dishes are quite common in the Filipino diet. From pinakbet to chopsuey, we have possibly dozens of recipes to choose from. However, if you’re looking for a new recipe to try, consider this dish we’re about to share. It’s filling, comforting, and easy to whip up.
An Ilonggo favorite
Laswa is an uncomplicated, healthy meal from Iloilo. Packed with a medley of vegetables, it is considered as a cousin of other famous vegetable dishes like bulanglang ang law-uy. Although it’s basically a vegetable soup down to its core, food expert Nina Daza-Puyat decided to incorporate sotanghon noodles, while staying faithful to the original recipe from her mother’s cookbook, “Let’s Cook with Nora”.
“This is my first time to see this version with noodles. But it makes sense because we Filipinos like one-dish meals,” Nina explains. With noodles being one of the top ingredients in our local cuisine, it felt natural for it to be included in this vegetable soup recipe.
What makes this dish special and straightforward is how easy it is to substitute the vegetable choices, according to one’s flavor preferences or the availability of ingredients. Nina chose to add sigarillas and sayote tops because they add more texture and of, course more flavor in every bite. Other cooks even incorporate ampalaya and malunggay pods into the mix, to add a slightly bitter yet satisfying flavor. There are also many leafy green options such as kangkong and kamote tops, and even saluyot and alugbati.
“This is a classic example of a backyard-to-table kind of dish, which relies on vegetables that are harvested for that day in one’s backyard. It’s eating what’s fresh and seasonal, with ingredients that are at their prime flavor,”
Nina on what makes Laswa extra special
To make it a one-dish meal, home cooks may add fried fish, grilled fish or smoked fish as an additional source of protein. This steps allows the flavor of the fish to seep into the soup, giving it another layer of richness.
Filling, versatile, and easy to prepare, Laswa is a comforting Filipino favorite that demonstrates how one does not need to spend too much time and energy in the kitchen to come up with something absolutely tasty, healthy and delicious.
To know more about Sapporo and their Long Kow Vermicelli, you may visit their website.
