At the point when we were youngsters, my folks had no trouble taking care of my sister and I vegetables like an exemplary Filipino Upo Guisado Omelet — particularly in light of the fact that my dad developed upo (bottle gourd) in our lawn. In any case, when I had offspring of my own, it was a test to cause my children to eat vegetables, so I concocted ways they would appreciate them like this Tortilyang Upo, an omelet made of the sauteed container gourd.
Contrasted with my life as a youngster in the Philippines, where flavors were less complex and more fundamental in those days, my children experienced childhood in America where their palates were presented to a horde of tastes, fragrances and surfaces from different societies – on the grounds that all things considered, that is America, a mixture. Making sense of why they expected to eat vegetables past French Fries was extreme. Frequently, I needed to sneak in the veggies in imaginative ways. At times, I even brought to the table for a prize
Now that my children are developed, my tirelessness has paid off. They eat their vegetables without any inquiries posed. Far superior, they’ve become more wellbeing cognizant and embrace health as a lifestyle. Both my children grew up as special people with differing inclinations for food, yet by the day’s end the two of them incline toward preparing their own healthy dinners.
One thing my more youthful child was captivated with when he was little was the jug gourd or upo (say “ooh-poh”) as we call it in the Philippines. I frequently recounted how the gourd, developing from a plant, assumed the state of a jug that was hung close to it.
I let my child know that when I was a youngster, I thought the upo filling in our terrace seemed to be a strong play club due to its length – around 12 to 14 inches. When the upo was collected, the upo felt weighty in my arms. As a patio vegetable, my mom had numerous recipes for upo. I recall well the upo guisado – sautéed in garlic, onions, tomatoes. When I heard the sizzle of the garlic and onions and smelled the fragrance of the patis (fish sauce) utilized for preparing, I knew lunch or supper would be prepared soon.
I found upo in the Asian business sectors last week and I was glad I could make my most loved guisado recipe. I made it a stride further and prepared a few eggs till they were light and cushy. Then I poured the beaten eggs around the skillet where the sautéed upo was stewing. The outcome was a glorious omelet, as light as a cloud, yet wet and flavorful enough to appreciate with a bowl of bubbled white rice.
I cut the ‘tortilyang upo’ as my mother called it and the brilliant yellow omelet encasing the light green shapes of gourd flickered enticingly. I put the omelet piece on a bed of rice on my plate and the consoling fragrance of the cooked eggs with the sautéed vegetables was all I expected to cause things to appear to be OK at this time in our present reality.
