Filipino Vegetables ABC’s

July 15, 2021

This was a fun set of art to do, but also a bit challenging. One can find themselves craving for Filipino dishes while reading and drawing Filipino food.

I’ve been eating more and more vegetables since my mom’s stroke, and now I’m incorporating them in my art too. To start the new year I embarked on a journey through Philippine vegetables, dishes, and ingredients to make a set of Filipino Vegetable ABC’s.

It was also challenging to find Filipino vegetables or Filipino words for the set that start with certain letters. Q and X were the most difficult, despite there being a few Spanish and English loan words for Filipino food that start with these letters. For instance there is Queso de bola (or Keso de bola) or Qwek-qwek but these aren’t vegetables. And for the life of me I could not find any X words.

What helped was that I expanded the set to include words in Filipino languages other than Tagalog. There are Ilokano, Cebuano, and Ivatan words in this set too. There are also snacks like cornik which are from corn kernels and ingredients like dahon ng saging which is used for a variety of other veggie-based or even vegan dishes from suman to junay (a Tausug dish, also featured in the alphabet).

Here is the complete list that included in the set:

Ampalaya
Bawang
Corniks
Dahon ng saging
Ensaladang Talong
Fresh lumpia
Galang-galang (bisaya camote chips)
Hopia munggo
Inanag na mais (grilled corn or sinugbang mais either on grill or directly in uling)
Junay (Tausug dish)
Kalabasa
Luya (ginger)
Malunggay
Ngohiong
Opia ilokano dessert
Palapa
Kamote Q
Rabong (sauteed bamboo shoot – ilokano)
Sili
Toge (mung bean sprout),
Upo
Venes (ivatan dried stalk of taro for ivatan laing)
Wansoy
X-tra rice
Yangka (Kampangpangan for langka)
Zamboanga rolls (lokot-lokot)

I hope to expand this list further with other dishes, until then I still have another set of artwork under my Philippine Wildlife Art project: Cloud Rats of the Philippines! Hoping to get that done this year.

Meanwhile if you know anyone who might like the Filipino Vegetable ABCs artwork, I made artprints and even flashcards with it!

Check out the entire alphabet below, or the video of how I made the artwork from sketch to digital art on YouTube here.

The Filipino Vegetables & Veggie Ingredients ABC set

A is for Ampalaya! Not everyone loves Ampalaya or bittermelon, but for those who do, it is a delicious ingredient for many dishes such as Pinakbet, Dinengdeng, Ensaladang Ampalaya, Ginisang Ampalaya, and more! Art print and framed mini print on Society6.

B is for Bawang! And when recipes call for “2 cloves”, multiply by 2 (or more). Bawang means garlic in Tagalog, Ilokano, and other languages. Ahos in Bisaya. What is Bawang in your language?

C is for Cornick, aka cornik, kornix, or chichacorn!

D is for Dahon ng Saging! Banana leaves are the original Filipino food wrapper, plate, bowl, packaging, serving platter, table runner, wax paper, baking sheet, pot liner, kitchen towel… how has your family used banana leaves?

E is for Ensaladang Talong! Eggplant is delicious when grilled, peeled, and mixed with fresh tomatoes and onions. Eggplant is known as Talong (Tagalog), Tawong (Bisaya), Talon (Pangasinan), Tarong (Ilokano), Terung (Malay), and Terong (Indonesian).

F is for Fresh Lumpia! Also known as Lumpiang Sariwa, different recipes include a soft, non-fried wrapper packed with a variety of vegetables, from ubod or coconut palm, tokwa or tofu, toge or mung bean sprouts, carrots, onions, and other minced vegetables. Often drizzled in a delicious peanut sauce. What is in your favorite fresh lumpia? Artprint on Society6.

G is for Ginataang Kalabasa! Or Ginataang anything :). Cooking food in coconut milk makes everything nice… and nutritious! What is your favorite coconut milk recipe? Artprint on Society6.

H is for Hopia ng Munggo! Hopia is a flaky, flavorful, pastry which today can be found in different shapes (round, cubed) or with different fillings (red bean to ube). Munggo or mung bean paste is among the oldest recipes and one of the most popular – a vegetable transformed into a sweet snack. What is your favorite Hopia?

I is for Inanag na Mais! Grilling corn makes for a simple snack. Inanag, a Bisaya delicacy, is exactly that. All you need is corn and a fire. Most commonly known as sinugbang mais or inihaw na mais, the juicy corn with that smoky flavor is just as delicious as the company you have while gathering around the fire for snack time.

J is for Junay! Also spelled Junai, it is a Tausug recipe that involves cooking rice with Pamapa Itum or ground burned coconut meat with various spices. It is then wrapped in banana leaves and cooked once more to fuse banana leaf awesomeness with the charred-coconut-meat-spice-and-flavor-laden rice. Makes for a wonderful snack to go, or to sit down and savor with other dishes.

K is for Kalabasa! What is your favorite dish with kalabasa or its flowers? There is pinakbet, maja kalabasa, tortang kalabasa, okoy, utan bisaya, dinengdeng, inabraw, bulanglang, ginataang kalabasa… It is a popular vegetable in the Philippines, but its roots lie in North and South America where its veggie ancestors were cultivated by communities starting 10,000 years ago!

L is for Luya! It is not only used to flavor dishes, but it is the main ingredient for salabat or ginger tea! An accessible and natural remedy for cough and colds.

M is for Malunggay! Also known as Kamunggay, it is a nutrition power house. It has more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, and more potassium than bananas, gram for gram. It is a commonly shared vegetable whose branches and cuttings can be easily planted, and whose leaves are shared among neighbors all over the country. Artprint on Society6.

N is for Ngohiong! Ngohiong is a popular Bisaya fried spring roll whose key flavor is five-spice powder: a combination of cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, Sichuan pepper, and cloves. It is mixed with bits of singkamas and or ubod, garlic, onions and ground pork and wrapped in lumpia wrapper, often battered to add extra crispiness. Remove the pork and make it vegetarian or vegan! Artprint on Society6.

O is for Opia! Opia is a crisp, half-moon on a plate, made with ground malagkit (pilit or sticky rice), ground bigas or rice, and ground and roasted sesame seeds made with love in Ilocos Sur, particularly in San Juan. Artprint on Society6.

P is for Palapa! Palapa is a delicious Maranao dish made with pounded or minced sakurab – a local scallion, ginger, sili or chili peppers, and/or turmeric, garlic, onions, and nyog or coconut. It is then used in other dishes or as a condiment, making a savory & spicy addition to any meal. Malembo! Lami! What does your family use in palapa? What do you eat it with? Artprint on Society6.

Q is for Kamote Q! Kamote cue is sliced sweet potato that is deep fried with sugar… coating the timeless root crop delicacy in a shell of caramelized sugar. It is then skewered on a stick for easy enjoyment. Possibly nicknamed after sticks of barbecue, kamote cue is one of the most common street food snacks in the country, next to banana cue! Know any vegetable dishes that start with the letter “Q”? Artprint on Society6.

R is for Rabong! Rabong is Ilokano for bamboo shoot, which is used in dishes all over the country. Ilokano dishes include Ensalada a Rabong, Adobo a Rabong, Ginisa a Rabong, Achara a Rabong, Ginettaan a Rabong, at iba pa. Our food is not only rich with rabong recipes, our stories are rich with bamboo or kawayan as well. The story of Malakas and Maganda involves two people breaking out from a large bamboo. What is your favorite rabong, labong (Tag), dabong (Bis), uvug (Ibanag), hubwal (Ifug) recipe? Artprint on Society6.

S is for Sili! There is Siling haba or pangsigang (Capsicum annuum) which is longer and green, and Siling labuyo (Capsicum frutescens) which is smaller and illustrated here. It is used in a variety of dishes: Gising-gising (Ilokano chopped green beans and sili), Palapa (Maranao chopped sakurab with sili and spices), Laing (Bicolano gabi leaf stew), Venes (Ivatan gabi stalk or leaf stew), Kinilaw (Bisaya ceviche with sili), for sawsawan or sarsa, and more. Sili prices can go as high as P550 per kilo from P80 per kilo, as they did last year after typhoons affected farms, and right before Christmas! Artprint on Society6.

T is for Togue! Also spelled toge (and tawgi in Bisaya), Togue are bean sprouts derived from Munggo or Balatong (mung beans)! They’re used in ginisang togue, lumpiang togue, fresh lumpia, pancit, okoy or ukoy, and many other dishes in the country.

U is for Upo! Also known as Kalubay in Bisaya, it’s delicious in the Ilonggo dish Kalubay kag Tawgi, or a simple Tagalog Upo Guisado, which is upo and the “ginisa trinity” of garlic, onions, and tomatoes. Upo is also known as bottle gourd, since it is also used as a container when dried. Because of this, it can be found in various shapes & sizes thanks to the people who used them.

V is for Venes! In Batanes gabi leaves and stalks are cooked with pork and/or patola (but you can make it meatless too). Laing, a more well-known dish from Bicol, is similar and cooked with sili and coconut milk. Venes and laing are two of many dahon ng gabi dishes in the country. In fact, gabi or taro was already enjoyed in the Philippines and across the Pacific long before the Spanish arrived. In Hawaii they call gabi leaves luau, and in Tahiti they are called fafa. Artprint on Society6.

W is for Wansoy! Wansoy is used in many Chinese-Filipino recipes including noodle soups like mami or miswa. The name is from 芫荽 or yan sui, and is delicious in Chinese fresh lumpia, which is packed with grated and sauteed tofu, carrots, baguio beans, and more. It is also popular in Mexico by its Spanish name cilantro, and in Thai cuisine where it is known as ผักชี (Phak chi). Artprint on Society6.

X is for… X-tra Rice! A close relative of Unli-rice, X-tra Rice is enjoyed in places where your ulam, sud-an, suwa, or main course surpasses the amount of rice needed to enjoy the meal. If you know of any Filipino vegetables or veggie dishes that starts with ‘X’, let us know. As you can tell, we had a hard time finding one! Artprint on Society6.

Y is for Yangka! Kapampangan for jackfruit, Yangka is not only enjoyed as a sweet delicacy in turon or halo-halo, the unripe fruit is cut and tossed into stews such as Adobo, Ginataan, or Kinilaw/Kilawin. In Tagalog it is known as Langka. In the Visayas, Malaysia, and Indonesia it is known as Nangka! Artprint on Society6.

Z is for Zamboanga Roll! Also known as Lokot-lokot, Jaa, and other names, it is enjoyed by Maranao, Tausug, and Muslim communities in Mindanao. It is made with 3 ingredients (rice flour, sugar, and water), but requires a special, traditional method to make them. An ulayan or strainer made with a coconut shell is filled with batter, then tapped repeatedly to allow the batter to fall into the kalha (kawali, or wok). As it is deep fried, it is folded into a roll with special tools called gagawi. Artprint on Society6.