Super Chili

The bittermelon plant in my garden really took off so fast because of the recent rains that we had. I actually had been gathering the fruits as well as the leaves which we use in soups like mung bean soup and chicken tinola which locals call Chicken Paraya. I have done a little research on…

Chili or sili as we call it have different forms and shapes. Some are hot and some are not. The intensity of the heat from a chili pepper is measured in Scoville heat units. Habanero peppers are rated as the hottest, but before habanero and even before the Scoville measurement, I think we ranked our…

Malunggay or Moringa leaves are having good reviews not only as a healthy food but also a solution to reduce world hunger. I just learned that the leaves can be incorporated in the making of noodles or pasta just like spinach for added health benefits. You can mix the dried ground leaves with the rice…

Watercress is in the family of Brassicas like radish and mustard relating to their peppery flavor. It closely resembles the taste of nasturtiums and the name is the same but they are actually distant relatives and they are easy to grow. Watercress is not available in the Philippines when I was growing up so I…

I always plant Okra in my garden. It is an indispensable ingredient in the famous Filipino recipe called “Pinakbet”. I actually just cook that today. I gathered enough eggplants, bittermelons, okra and winged beans today that compelled me to make pinakbet. I also gathered some tomatoes which is also an important ingredient for pinakbet. I…

Papayas are very common here in Hawaii but most of them are for eating as fruits. Meanwhile we use the green papaya as vegetable. It is a different variety of papaya not like the “Solo” or “Sunrise”. This type is more elongated in shape and actually bigger than the Hawaiian variety. Just like the Thai…