I was craving for Ginataang Gulay (coconut cream vegetable) and banana turon. Ginataang gulay is my favorite vegetable recipe while banana turon is an ultimate favorite snack.
Friday afternoon until Sunday is the best time to buy vegetables and fruits from our local market. Tese days are what we call "tabo". It's a term we used to call this event every weekend where more vendors come to the market, set up their tents which serve as temporary stall and display their products. Usually these vendors that come to the market to sell fresh produce, a variety of fruits and vegetables. Other products which are commonly sold during "tabo" is dried fish.
I went to the market to buy ingredients needed for the food I was craving for. Some of the vendors had set up their stalls early and already displayed their products. More vendors will be coming to the market. The dried fish vendors are not here yet.
Tomorrow, this empty space will be full of stalls.
Here are some vendors setting up their tents. This area will be busier during the weekend. The space will surely be full of vendors and eager people looking for the products that are more fresh and cheaper. Since more vendors are coming, competition is doubtless and this is when people can take advantage of the situation.
The hunt for ingredients begins
So I walked into stalls to look for the main ingredients of my ginataang gulay recipe. That includes coconut milk and vegetables.
I decided to buy just the usual vegetables that should be included. These are squash, string beans, eggplant and camote tops. But if you want to add whatever vegetables you want to add, it's your choice.
I thought of including some monggo sprout but decided to just stick to the plan.
The reason I only chose a few ingredients is because I don't want to have excess food that would go to waste. I want to cook just the right amount.
Found the coconuts! Though I could just ask for a coconut that fell from the tree at my parents place, that would be laborious for me as I need to grate it myself. Here, they offer the grating service. For the grated coconut, it cost 0.55$.
After completing the ingredients for the ginataang gulay, I went around the market to look for the ingredients of banana turon.
I looked around in some fruit stalls but I couldn't find the perfect banana for the turon. For this snack I need the "saba" banana because it's the cooking type banana. I cannot use the other types of banana for this recipe.
Finally I found the saba banana in a vegetable vendor's stall. This looks perfect for the turon since it is ripe enough. Banana should be ripe enough so it will taste more deliciously. A kilo of this banana cost 0.55$. I bought almost a kilo and paid 0.45$.
Aside from saba banana, one important ingredient to make this banana turon snack is the lumpia wrapper. So i bought a pack of lumpia wrapper that cost 0.91$.
The ingredients were complete so I headed towards the terminal area for tricycles. On my way, I saw two vendors selling bamboo shoot. It's the edible part of the bamboo. It is not everyday that these bamboo shoots are available. So everytime I see it sold in the market, I definitely buy it. I was also thinking this will be perfect addition to my ginataang gulay. I bought a glass of it. They sell it per glass which costs 0.27$.
I was happy to find everything in the market for the food I craved for. At home I was able to cook my favorite ginataang gulay.
Here it is...
This is it for my #MarketFriday by @dswigle.
Thank you dear readers. Have a great weekend everyone.