Laswa with Pasayan

Laswa with Pasayan. Laswa provably is my next favourite vegetable dish after Pakbet or PinakbetIlocano. Every time we ate at fast food centers, Laswa if available will for sure be the choice of our vegetable soup dish. With my recent travel to Bacolod, we had a change to eat on the company canteen of our host company. Lo and behold to my delight, on their turo-turo-choice is an authentic Laswa with Takway, finally I had a change of having authentic Laswa and with takway and it was unforgettable.

What is Takway? you may ask if your are not an Ilongo. Takway is the young stalk of the taro shoot, or sometimes termed as tendrils. Takway is often a key ingredient of Ilongo vegetable dishes like the Laswa, however the most popular dish is Adobong Takway. I will not go into details on what is Takway, as I am not expert on it, please just search the internet if you need more information.

Back to my Laswa with Pasayan, a couple of days upon my arrival in Manila I sourced out the ingredients of my next Laswa dish. Except for the Takway, the other vegetable ingredients were easy. In fact there is no hard rule to what type of vegetables to be used. For my Laswa with Pasayan dish I even included some fresh mushrooms. The only vegetables missing was the Takway. The truth is I have not found any Takway in Metro Manila, I have been looking for some time already. To my readers who know where to buy Takway in Metro Manila please leave a comment.

Okey here is the reciepe of my version of Laswa with Pasayan, try it.

Ingredients:

1/4 kilo medium size fresh shrimp, shell intact, trimmed

1 big bowl of combination but not limited of the following vegetables

malunggay leaves

kamote tops, leaves

saluyot tops, cut crosswise once

papaya, skinned, sliced thinly

sitaw, trimmed, cut into 2” lengths

sigarillas, trim, cut into wedges

okra, trimmed, cut into wedges

kalabasa, skinned, cut into slices

1 small onion, peeled, chopped

2 small tomatoes, chopped

salt

Cooking procedure:

In a medium sized sauce pan bring to boil 4 to 6 cups of water. Add in the onion and tomatoes, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the shrimp and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove all scum that rises. Add in all the vegetables. Vegetables that will require longer time to cook at the bottom and leafy vegetables at the top or add later. Continue to cook  8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked but firm. Serve immediately while vegetables are still firm.