Pinoy Vegetable Soup (Laswa) @Home

Growing up, I disliked vegetables except for the usual lettuce, cabbage and broccoli. I would run away from my yaya (nanny) and tire her out just so I don’t eat my veggies. Thank goodness today, I love all kinds of veggies….. well, except for okra! I can’t stand okra! Hahaha. Okra = NOT Good in my book. Yikes! 😯

Manong Fred, Our family cook makes this wonderful Visayan (bisaya) soup called “Laswa” or also known as “Di-ning-ding”. Weird names, I know! But, I love how simple it is to make and how good it is for you, and the taste? I love it! I can eat it everyday (for about a week, then I need to change it up a bit 😉 ) hahahha.

Here’s Manong Fred’s Super EASY Laswa soup:

The secret to this dish? FRESH, FRESH, FRESH veggies! For my dear readers abroad, If you do  not have alugbati, you may substitute spinach. No sigarillas? No problemo! You can substitute snake beans (long beans). What’s great about this soup is the fact that you can add just about anything you have in your fridge. This is one of the best ways to get “rid” of the old stuff and make way for new stuff. 😛

We used shrimps for this soup, but I have seen manong Fred make this with just veggies alone. Of course, minus the Okra pleeeeease!

Place the squash, shrimps, spring onions and tomatoes in a stock pot and add water. Bring this to a boil and allow the squash/kalabasa to soften.

Once the kalabasa/squash has softened, add the sigarillas and eggplant and allow to simmer for a few minutes and season with rock salt. I like to use our local rock/sea salt the one without iodine. It tastes much better.

Add the alugbati or spinach and cook until wilted. I love alugbati. You can also use malunggay leaves.

Serve.

This is one healthy bowl of Pinoy Style Veggie soup! Give it a go. Hope you like it!

“Food nourishes the body as God’s Word nourishes the soul”