Laswa

Last week, stir fried recipes were featured. Why not do a soup week this whole week?

Lets start with a healthy one after all those stir fries we had, and thinking of healthy lets start with something vegetable. Now if you think vegetable soups are not as good as its meaty counterparts then you check this one out to negate that thought as this is by far the best vegetable soup dish I had ever tried. This Ilonggo dish is like a combination of both dinengdeng and pinakbet, there are no rules on what vegetables are used but the usual ones you will see are squash, sweet potatoes, green papaya, string beans, eggplant, balatong (mung beans), okra, alugbati (malabar spinach), kulitis (native spinach), malungay (moringa leaves) and saluyot (jute leaves).
Though it may look rustic this dish presents you a with very subtle savoury taste with a hint of sweetness due to the diverse combination of vegetables. A good pair with fried or grilled dishes alongside with hot steaming rice.

Ingredients

500g large shrimps, with shells
1/2 small butternut squash, cubed
1 bunch string beans, sliced
10 pcs okra
1 bunch spinach
4 cups chicken or seafood stock
1 white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
sea salt or fish sauce
freshly ground black pepper
oil

Method

1. Remove the shells from the shrimps, set aside the shelled shrimps then keep the shells. Place shells in a blender with 2 cup of water, give it a short pulse just enough to chop the shells roughly but not pureed. Place on a fine sieve and drain the liquid, set the liquid aside.
2. Add a small amount of oil in a pot then sauté garlic and onions, once onions turn soft add squash and string beans.
3. Add chicken stock and liquid from blended shrimp shells; bring it to a boil then once boiling add the okra. Simmer in medium heat for 8 minutes or until tender.
4. Add shrimps and spinach and simmer for 1 minute.
5. Flavour with fish sauce and season with freshly ground black pepper.

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21 thoughts on “Laswa”

Ang sarap at ang laswa!!!!! Hehehehe sarap naman nung okoy….

Yum!!!!
Trust me this bowl of goodness can make me so happy….
I love soups and I am so trying this one soon…

Pinakbet is the usual ulam if we are out of boudget. Matipid na masustansya na masarap.

That soup looks as good as your stir fries!

This looks like a very satisfying meal. The soup looks fantastic and those fried shrimps on the side look heavenly.

Yeay!! Soup Week!!
The dish looks fantastic!

Those shrimp look ridiculous!

I could use a healthy soup after my weekend of non-stop eating! This looks great.

Shrimps and vegetables! Yum!

Yummy!! Shrimp has got to be my FAVORITE!

I like dinengdeng and I love pinakbet. What more can I ask for if this is a combination of both? I can’t take my eyes off that ukoy.

That looks so good – I love soups like this with lovely fresh veegtables and tastes. Very nice indeed!

Raymund, I really like that soup – but love that big prawns fritter on the right of the soup. Reminds me of prawn fritters I grew up eating! Your blog takes me down to happy memories of my childhood