Life is Sweet

I posted an Instagram post about all the Malunggay meals I cooked during the first week of the Community Quarantine. Malunggay is readily available at our backyard and in any case we can source outside the empty lots in our village. I think because of the current situation most of our neighbors are getting Malunggay too since we weren’t able to source a good catch of Malunggay Leaves for the past two days.

I already instructed our helper to make sure our Malunggay tree is well taken care of and is getting the care and love it deserves. We also had to rest in picking Calamansi from our Calamansi Tree since the rest of the fruits are still too small and young to be harvested. Constant watering and pruning is the key.

Since I also received a handful of messages regarding my recipe, even if it is very easy to make, I will be sharing with you one recipe at a time. I always make sure I cooked a batch of food ready to be served both for lunch and dinner, this way I can budget the food allocation properly.

On regular basis there are only four of us in the house, Jul, Sven, Ate Genalyn (our helper) and me. During the weekends it is expected that my parents come home from the farm so I add more meals during lunch and dinner but ideally I always cook one full meal that is good for the entire day. 🙂

You can always change the recipe according to your cooking needs and the availability of ingredients inside your fridge. So here’s my first Malunggay recipe.

Ginataang Gulay with Malunggay (Vegetable with  Coconut Milk)
Serves 4-8 persons (I divide the portion for lunch and dinner)

Ingredients:

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 medium sized ginger, chopped with big pieces
1 canned coconut milk (I love Jolly coconut milk)
2 medium sized eggplant
1 medium sized sayote
1/2 medium pumpkin, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
2 large green chili (optional)
1 pack of string beans
1 medium piece of red bell pepper
4 cups of fresh malunggay
Salt and Pepper to taste

Steps:

• Heat a large pan. Add 1 tsp of oil and saute the ginger, red bell pepper and garlic. Once cooked, add half a can of coconut milk, add water if it is too thick.
• Add all the vegetable starting with the pumpkin, sayote, string beans and lastly the eggplant, then leave to boil for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are almost cooked through.
• Add the rest of the coconut milk then seasoned with salt and pepper. If you are satisfied with the taste, you can add the malunggay leaves before turning off the heat.

*** If you want to make another Ginataang Gulay with fish, you can just add fish and fish sauce with the entire recipe. Make sure to saute the fish after the ginger, red bell pepper and garlic.  

***If you want to reheat the food for dinner just add a little bit of water since the soup will thicken because of the coconut milk and pumpkin.

ENJOY THE FOOD!!!!

XOXO,

Sweet

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