I have been tagged for a veggie-meme by Honeybee of Beurre et Pain. Although it may not seem immediately apparent, I actually love vegetables, it’s just that my love for bacon and chocolate sometimes tends to obscure this fact. My problem really is that there isn't much I won’t eat…
Anyhoo, on with the meme, six questions on vegetables:
1. Is there a vegetable you hated as a child but came to love as you got older?
There are a lot of veggies that I developed a taste for only as I grew up. Although I can’t say I absolutely hated any of them when I was a child. I ate pretty much anything that was in my path. There is one that I vehemently disliked as a child, and still do now – ampalaya (bitter gourd). I mean, it’s really bitter. Why?
2. Most underrated vegetable?
I would have to say malunggay (Moringa oleifera Lamk). It’s a local plant that can grow pretty much anywhere here. It doesn’t cost much and it has a ton of nutritional and medicinal benefits. It’s also my favorite vegetable to put in monggo (mung bean stew). Although they make pills out of it for breast-feeding mothers (it’s supposed to increase breast milk…imagine that!), I’d like to see it used more at the table and at restaurants.
3. Name one favourite summer vegetable dish.
Summer is a pretty broad term here as we have no real winter. In the summer I like to eat salads that have fruit and sinkamas (jicama?), or just cold sinkamas with some salt. Another great and refreshing salad is pako salad. Pako is a type of fern and I like is tossed with thinly sliced red onion, tomatoes, and some red (salted) egg. I also love (and I do mean love) lato...a type of seaweed. Ok, is that still considered a vegetable? Well, it's a veggie of the sea! The best way to have it (in my humble opinion) is fished directly out of the sea (lato will only grow in clean water so don't worry), give it a few swishes in the salty sea water, and pop into you mouth. It has these small globes that burst in your mouth with sea-and-summer-tasting goodness. Amazing.
4. And one for winter?
No winter here! :) It does get a bit chilly (this is very relative…”chilly” here is not really chilly in the general sense of the term…it’s more like “not hot”) around December, and around June our “wet” season starts. During these times a hot bowl of monggo (mung bean stew) can’t be beat!
5. What vegetables are in your fridge and freezer right now?
Tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, red cabbage, mustasa (mustard leaves), eggplant, labanos (radish), and gabi (taro?).
6. Is there a vegetable you really like but don't make much yourself?
Brussel sprouts! I LOVE brussel sprouts, but as supply here is not as regular as I’d like, and it’s also a bit pricey (being imported), so I don’t have them all the time.
No tags for now but if you’d like to join in feel free and let me know!