Green leafy vegetables is one of the foods in our original diet. The nature provided it for human consumption.
Apan-apan is our local term or name for the sauteed water spinach with a little sour flavor. It is a common food for the people living in the province especially to those who love green leafy vegetables.
For today's blog I want to share to you how I cook apan-apan, another simple yet healthy food for us.
Let's cook apan-apan
Ingredients:
1 handful of water spinach
1 piece Calamansi
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
Pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 glass of water
1 piece onion
2 cloves Garlic
Cooking oil
Procedures:
Step 1. Here is a handful of water spinach. This is given by my husband's workmate and a friend.
This is so fresh from their garden. This is a water spinach but they planted it in a dry land. This is much safer than those we bought in the market because we knew where it comes from.
Step 2. I cut the young leaves as well as the tender stem of it. I cut the stem at least two to three inches long.
Here are the leaves and the stems or stalk of the water spinach.
I then sliced the stem into half. Some people will cook it directly but I prefer to cut or slice it into half.
Here are the spinach stem after slicing into half.
Wash them thoroughly and set aside for a while.
Step 3. I then prepare one onion and two cloves of garlic. I don't have any cloves of garlic so I just used what is available, lol.
Step 4. Now, heat a pan and add a cooking oil enough for cooking. Saute onions and garlic.
Step 5. Add the stem or stalk of the water spinach first. I cook it first because it takes a little more time to cook this one compared to it's leaves.
Step 6. Add salt, soy sauce, brown sugar, a half glass of water and juice of one piece Calamansi.
You can adjust the salt and soy cause depending on your preferred taste. I used brown sugar to have a little taste of sweetness because I never used any artificial seasoning. You can also add more water if you want to have more soup in it. I just use one piece Calamansi to have a little sour taste instead of vinegar.
Step 7. If the water spinach stem is a little bit tender, then you can add the water spinach leaves.
Mix them well and cover it to let the steam and heat cook the leaves.
When the leaves are tender, when the taste is good, then your apan-apan is ready to be served.
We enjoyed eating apan-apan. A simple yet a nutritious food.
Thank you so much for reading.