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Laswa is a native Ilonggo recipe made entirely of vegetables with a medium-sized dish as its “sahog”. It’s similar todinengdeng of the Ilocanos and bulanglang of the Batangueños.
However, the laswa recipe differentiates itself from dinengdeng, as the former uses salt as its seasoning whereas dinengdeng uses bagoong isda.
Laswa is also different from bulanglang in that laswa uses plain water for its broth while bulanglang uses rice wash.
It could be said though that these 3 are essentially all vegetable stews, but only with regional variations.
Zooming into the laswa recipe, it boasts a variety of vegetables in its list, which includes squash, saluyot, okra, eggplant, string beans, and patola. However, whatever green produce are available at the moment would be perfect for laswa!
The main taste of this recipe centers around how these vegetables mix their flavors to have a unified, earthy, and humble taste.
Another main ingredient (shrimp) is supposed to be left as it is, neither deveined nor shelled, so as to also give its sea-fresh flavor to the entire dish and also to retain its individual taste.
In this post we'll cover:
Laswa recipe preparation tips
The laswa recipe is very easy to follow since in cooking it, you can just either put all of the sliced ingredients (except for the shrimp) in the pot and pour the water in,or you can do it in reverse.
Also, as you’re using plain water for the broth of this laswa recipe, putting in more okra or more saluyot will add more body and texture to the dish.
Take a look at this version of lawsa that YouTuber Panlasang Pinoy makes that has fish:
Laswa recipe: A native Ilonggo dish
Ingredients
- 250 g fresh shrimp cleaned with head and shell intact
- 250 g squash diced
- 2 pcs eggplant cut into wedges
- 10 pcs okra cut into wedges
- 5 pcs string beans cut into 2-inch pieces
- ½ medium-sized patola sliced
- 1 bunch saluyot
- 8 cups water
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil and add fresh shrimp.
- When the shrimp turn pinkish, add squash and okra, and simmer for 2-5 minutes or until squash is slightly tender.
- Add string beans and eggplant, and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add patola and simmer for 1 minute. Season with salt to taste.
- Turn off heat and add the saluyot so it won’t get overcooked.
- Serve immediately while hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Serve this dish while still hot so you can fully enjoy the warm broth and also with rice. If you choose to have a condiment to up the flavor, however, you can have fish paste or fish sauce.
Ever had trouble finding Japanese recipes that were easy to make?
We now have "cooking Japanese with ease", our full recipe book and video course with step-by-step tutorials on your favorite recipes.
