Utan Bisaya, Visayan Vegetable Soup
Utan, or law-uy, is the everyday vegetable soup of the central Philippines, a brothy pot of whatever is in the garden simmered with ginger and often a hank of lemongrass. Unlike its famous cousin sinigang, it is not sour at all. It is clean and faintly sweet, a light counterweight to grilled or fried food. The vegetables shift with the season, but squash for body, long beans and okra for substance, and malunggay leaves stirred in at the end are the backbone. Spinach steps in for the malunggay, and the ginger does enough that the pot needs no salt.
Ingredients
- 8 oz Kabocha squash, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
- 6 oz Long beans, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths
- 1 Eggplant, cut into thick half-moons
- 6 podses Okra, left whole, tops trimmed
- 2 Fresh tomatoes, quartered
- 1 Yellow onion, sliced
- 3 cloves Garlic, smashed
- 1 tbsp Ginger, sliced
- 1 stalk Lemongrass, bruised and tied into a knot
- 3 cups Spinach, packed
- 1 Thai bird chile, left whole, optional
- 1 tsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
Method
- Bring 6 cups (1.4 L) water to a simmer with the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, tomato, and bouillon. Unlike sinigang, utan is not soured, so the ginger and lemongrass are what carry the broth and give it its clean, aromatic lift. Simmer 5 minutes to draw them out.
- Add the squash and simmer 8 minutes, until it softens at the edges and begins to sweeten the pot. The squash is the source of the broth's body and its gentle sweetness.
- Add the eggplant, long beans, and whole okra, plus the whole chile if you want a low background heat. Keeping the okra whole and unsliced is what stops it turning slippery. Simmer 8 minutes, until everything is tender.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach, which stands in for the malunggay (moringa) leaves of the original and wilts in seconds.
- Fish out the lemongrass knot. Taste: the ginger and the sweet squash should make it feel complete with no salt. Ladle over brown rice, Visayan style.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 120 calories, 5 g protein, 6 g fiber, 50 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
