Isn’t this a pretty bowl of laswa?

Can you spot the fish?

A steaming bowl of laswa is the best way to cleanse your  digestive system of  all that grease  from the not-too-good-for-your-health dishes served during the holiday season. It resets your mind  from party mode back to the realities of everyday life.    

Nothing screams “Ilonggo” louder than laswa. I dreaded seeing this on the dinner table as a child.  Funny how, when I grew older, I  found myself craving it whenever I was away from Iloilo.  This is my comfort food, I guess. For the past ten years, I’ve picked up some valuable lessons that have reinforced my  skill in cooking this dish.  No more tears now. ( I used to get so upset  when people didn’t eat what I cook. )  Today, I have the audacity  to claim that I am to laswa the way Bobby Flay is to grilling. (Eat your heart out, Daddy!) 

MY LASWA LESSONS

• It’s not as easy as you think. The first time I made it,I thought there was nothing to it.  What’s so difficult about boiling vegetables? Just drop the chunky ones first because they cook longer. Put some salt.  Drop the leafy ones last and voila – it’s all done.  The result— nobody liked it, including me. It’s so deceptively simple that it’s easy to  make a mess of it. The moral of the story is: don’t be overconfident when cooking  rustic, peasant food.  It can humble you in a big way.
• Use a small amount of water. One or two cups would be okey. A dear old lady told me this. She explained that while the vegetables are boiling they will release their own liquids, which will sweeten the broth. 
• I used to just put salt in the vegetables and couldn’t understand why there seemed to be something misssing in the taste.  I realized that I had forgotten all about the subak or the sahog.  Some people use fresh tiny shrimps or sura-sura.  Others use grilled fish.  Dried fish is also good. I like to fry or sanlag my dried fish before dropping it into the pot.  This way it doesn’t disintegrate easily. I put them in towards the end.  My favorite is dried lobo-lobo(silverfish). All these enhance  the broth, but no matter what subak I have, I always use patis(fish sauce).  A tablespoon or two  of this  offensively pungent liquid rounds out the flavor of the dish. It provides a good contrast to the sweetness of the vegetables.
• Laswa is best when cooked just a few minutes before sitting down to eat.  It is no good when it’s cold.