Halaan (clams) and malunggay soup

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The more common way of preparing this simple soup is to add sili leaves to the clams after the heat has been turned off. The pot is covered for a few minutes to allow the sili leaves to wilt before serving. But after I gave birth to my first child, my father would make this soup using malunggay leaves. Whether there is a scientific basis for it or it is simply another old wives’ tale, I am not sure, but my father said malunggay helped with the production of breast milk. He wanted the best for his granddaughter. :)

clams (halaan) and malunggay soup

Malunggay (Moringa oleifera Lamk,) is a tree; both the leaves and the fruits are edible and highly nutritious and has been referred to as nature’s medicine cabinet and a miracle vegetable. The best part is… oh, okay, there are two. First, malunggay is very cheap. PhP 5.00 worth of malunggay is quite enough to cook a soup for four people. Second, malunggay leaves taste good. No bitterness, no hard fibers, no aftertaste.

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Comments

37 Comments on "Halaan (clams) and malunggay soup"

  1. JMom on Mon, 29th May 2006 8:18 pm 

    My lola said the same thing about ginger infused soups increasing milk production. And she said clear broths like this one are the best. Baliktad naman dito, malunggay leaves are such a novelty, one we can only get them frozen, and two, they cost an arm and a leg!

  2. Connie on Mon, 29th May 2006 8:22 pm 

    Hala, dito pwede nga manghingi sa kapit-bahay hehehe

  3. kulasa on Mon, 29th May 2006 9:05 pm 

    Have you ever cooked or tasted something made from the malunggay fruit? W have a tree here pero puro dahon lang ang ginagamit (as hinihingi). Yung fruit natutuyo.

  4. lemon on Tue, 30th May 2006 7:44 am 

    hi.this has got to be my favorite food, next to guinomis. it’s a goot thing that buying malunggay leaves has become unnecessary for me since my mom-in-law planted malunggay, sili, and tanglad (lemongrass) in our backyard. jmom’s woe is even more novel for me, expensive malunggay?oh no.

  5. neri on Tue, 30th May 2006 10:16 am 

    my father loves malungay leaves and its fruit very much, especially when cooked in diningding way.

  6. Ludwig on Tue, 30th May 2006 10:59 am 

    I missed this dish!! I remembered my aunt prepared this back home and I loved it.

  7. Connie on Tue, 30th May 2006 11:28 am 

    kulasa, not yet. my friend was just talking about a dish using the malunggay fruit last sunday. intrigued nga ako eh.

    lemon, i wanted to plant malunggay too. our next door neighbor has a tree. but friends say the leaves often go into the “alulod”.

    neri, ah, so the fruit can be cooked as diningding… thanks for the info.

    ludwig, hehehe time to learn to cook it. :)

  8. neri on Tue, 30th May 2006 12:45 pm 

    yes it can be cooked that way, just peel off the hard skin (outer area, dark green in color) then slice mo lang sya parang sitaw.

  9. Olive on Tue, 30th May 2006 1:37 pm 

    i just bought a box of frozen NZ mussels, pwede rin ba tong lutuin the same way as the halaan? wala kasing fresh dito sa isteyts kaya puro frozen lahat pati malunggay:o(

  10. Ludwig on Tue, 30th May 2006 1:53 pm 

    Kaso lang, I’m not sure where to find malunggay around here. One of the ingredients is the problem. Ill have to improvise with what is available so it won’t be the same. :(

  11. iska on Tue, 30th May 2006 9:29 pm 

    hi connie! tagal ko nawala na naman…

    that’s exactly how my mom cooks halaan soup. yun naman bunga ng malunggay. oo nakatikim na ko nyan. nilalagay ni mom sa bulanglang. oo nga ano! i think i forgot to mention malunggay dahon at bunga in my bulanglang post….

  12. Connie on Wed, 31st May 2006 12:05 am 

    neri, am going to the market in the morning, i’ll look for some. intrigued ako.

    pwede, olive. don’t forget the ginger. :)

    ludwig, naku, can’t think of any substitute for malunggay ah.

    o, iska, bulanglang naman… i really need to find the fruit of malunggay hehehehe

  13. misty on Wed, 31st May 2006 12:59 am 

    hi! may dish with malunggay fruit na super favourite namin! my mom cooks it with pork and tomatoes. its so yummy.

  14. JMom on Wed, 31st May 2006 2:44 am 

    Connie and Kulasa, check ninyo ang blog ni Mike, he has a post on mallungay fruit. Sarap in dinengdeng and in his case, pinakbet.

  15. Olive on Wed, 31st May 2006 8:37 am 

    hi connie, suggest ko lang to others na nahihirapan humanap ng mga pang-rekadong gulay, you can use spinach leaves instead. i do that when some of these veggies are not available in some pinoy stores. thanks!

  16. Mario on Thu, 1st Jun 2006 1:18 am 

    Wow! I miss my mom’s home cooking.

  17. Dot on Thu, 1st Jun 2006 7:19 am 

    How I miss malunggay! I picked up about 4 frozen bags a few months ago. I tried, I really tried to keep it longer than 2 months but I love and missed it so much I could not wait to use all bags. Looks like I need to make another trip to Birmingham real soon. :)

  18. Connie on Thu, 1st Jun 2006 11:03 am 

    misty, any idea what’s it’s called?

    Thanks, JMom. Haayyyy… I need to bloghop, really. Missing a lot.

    Thanks, Olive, I’m sure Pinoys abroad will find your suggestion very useful.

    Mario, in my case, my Father’s cooking. My mother can’t cook. LOL

    Dot, special trip for malunggay? Grabe, the things we take for granted here in the Philippines.

  19. Rey S. on Thu, 1st Jun 2006 1:01 pm 

    My variation of this is I use tomato sauteed until it’s almost like a “sauce”. I put spring onions if no other leafy green is available.

  20. naoj12 on Fri, 2nd Jun 2006 7:46 am 

    hi!
    i’m currently breastfeeding and i can attest to the effectivity of malunggay. there is also a malunggay tablet to increase breastmilk production.

  21. hans on Fri, 2nd Jun 2006 11:41 am 

    bbrrrpppppp… excuse me

  22. Ludwig on Sun, 4th Jun 2006 2:20 am 

    Thanks for the suggestions Oliver. However, it won’t be the same with malunggay though. Well, at least it is worth a try to alleviate homesickness. :)

  23. Jo on Sat, 29th Jul 2006 8:34 am 

    Hi Sassy

    Bulanglang ang dinengdeng are almost the same, dinengdeng in the Ilocano and int he Tagalog region they call it Bulanglang. Love this dish, especially if served with grilled milkfish or if none, whatever fried fish… sarap! sarap! lalo na with squash flowers!

  24. Connie on Sat, 29th Jul 2006 9:41 am 

    Ah I see, you they’re regional names for the same dish. Thanks for the info, Jo. :)

  25. armina on Thu, 2nd Nov 2006 1:46 pm 

    before I asked you about malunggay recipe, now it’s here! Thanks a bunch… I cooked this recipe yesterday and It’s one of the best filipino dish…

    only one thing I don’t like from halaan is there’s still a lot of sand inside the shell, so maybe If I’ll cook this recipe again, I’ll steam the halaan first and wash with clean water until no more sand and then I’ll mix it to the soup :D hehehe

    Thanks!

  26. sarah on Tue, 6th Nov 2007 4:40 pm 

    i’ve done a research today but i’m not satisfied with the result.

  27. sarah on Tue, 6th Nov 2007 4:44 pm 

    this is my continuation of my comments, i’ve made a research about process in getting oil in malunggay then the result is the recipe. HOW DARE YOU I’m in despair dont you know that!

  28. Connie on Tue, 6th Nov 2007 10:47 pm 

    sarah, and so?

  29. roa on Thu, 24th Apr 2008 7:36 pm 

    i want to try recipe using malunggay for my pre-mature baby…..

  30. LOUIE on Fri, 13th Jun 2008 3:51 pm 

    THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME FOR MY PROJECT!!!

  31. karen on Wed, 16th Jul 2008 1:22 pm 

    I hope our cooking contest will successful

  32. Connie on Wed, 16th Jul 2008 3:45 pm 

    Cooking contest??

  33. rhenz john baldos on Thu, 24th Jul 2008 1:31 pm 

    THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME FOR MY PROJECT!!

  34. Flowers of the malunggay tree | House on a hill on Wed, 24th Sep 2008 3:42 pm 

    [...] much discussion about the edible fruit of the malunggay tree in an older food entry, I decided to take a photo of [...]

  35. elise on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 4:42 pm 

    do you have other malunggay recipes????

  36. mac on Mon, 20th Oct 2008 11:25 pm 

    Please send me recipes on malunggay!!! Or any affordable soup dishes. Because my wife and I love soup!!! Thanks!!!!

  37. Plant a malunggay tree in your garden | Dream home on Tue, 28th Oct 2008 2:39 pm 

    [...] can almost taste it… clams and malunggay soup, fresh malunggay tea… And since the malunggay fruit is edible, I just might get creative with [...]




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