• Description

Vernacular Names: opo, tabayag

Parts utilized as vegetable and availability: fruits

Cultivated/Foraged: planted

Market presence of vegetable:marketed

Habitat: farm; anywhere

Availability: dry season; wet season

Dishes:mixed with pansit, sautéed, bulanglang

Bulanglang

(Mixed Vegetables Stew)
Brgy. Barigon, Agoncillo, Batangas

Ingredients

• 5 horseradish pods or bunga ng malunggay, peeled and cut into 6-cm lengths (Moringa oleifera)
• 1 cup horseradish flowers or bulaklak ng malunggay, washed (Moringa oleifera)
• 1 cup bottle gourd or upo, peeled and sliced (Lagenaria siceraria)
• 3 pcs medium tomatoes or kamatis, sliced
• 1 pc medium bulb onion or sibuyas, chopped
• 2 cups rice water or hugas bigas (the water discarded after the second washing of rice)
• salt

Procedure

1. Boil saved rice water with tomatoes.
2. Add malunggay pods and boil for 3 minutes.
3. Add upo and boil for another 3 minutes.
4. Add onions and malunggay flowers. Allow to boil once. Season with salt to taste.

Note: Bulanglang is a flexible vegetable stew wherein other vegetables in season can be added or substituted for others. It can be as simple as a one-vegetable stew, or become more complex with more combinations of indigenous vegetables.