Dinengdeng with Marungay

I always knew it as marungay and was raised calling it that.  The scientific name for this plant is moringa oleifera.  It is a tree that my parents and grandparents always had in the backyard.  The leaves and fruits are edible.  I love the idea of gathering food from your backyard. 

I saw my aunt at a family gathering for Thanksgiving and she mentioned that she recently had a conversation with her friend about marungay and bone broth being very popular for the health benefits that they deliver.

I have seen a lot of ads about bone broth and collagen, but I didn't know that marungay was also being advertised as a super food. Her friend said that it's become so popular that baby marungay plants can now be found at the local Home Depot.

You know what my aunt's response to that was?  She thought that the popularity of bone broth and marungay was absurd.  Filipinos have been cooking and eating lauya for years!  If you don't know what lauya is, it's a brothy soup made with beef bones and marungay leaves.  Anyway, I just wanted to share that story because I thought it was funny.

While I was home for Thanksgiving, my grandma did a harvest from her yard and prepared some marungay fruits for me.  What a treat!  I was afraid I didn't know the recipe and I'm also learning that some vegetable combinations work better than others and some don't even match. LOL!  So I have to say that my grandma did give me some suggestions, but I added some other extra vegetables and it didn't match! LOL!  That's what I get when I don't listen.

So here is the recipe for what I created.  I think I wouldn't put the winged beans and eggplant next time.  My grandma also suggested ebi (dried shrimp), not raw shrimp. But the following is what I did for this dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup patis (fish sauce)
• 3 cups marungay, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces
• 4 small tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup raw shrimp, defrosted
• 2 eggplants, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 5 winged beans
• 1/4 cup onions, sliced

Instructions:

1. Prepare ingredients as described above (chop, defrost, cut, etc.)
2. Add water to pot.
3. Add patis to pot and bring to a simmer.
4. Add marungay. 
5. Cover and simmer until about halfway cooked (about 20 minutes).
6. Add tomatoes, shrimp, eggplant, winged beans, and onions. 
7. Cover and simmer until cooked through (15 -  20 minutes), stirring halfway through. (My parents and grandparents do the pan-toss thing to mix it up. But I don't know how to do that, so I have to stir it.)
8. Serve.  (Eat marungay fruit by splitting open and scraping the soft insides out.  You don't eat the firm, fibrous outside.
9. Enjoy.

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