Quick KBL Recipe (Kadyos Baboy Langka) with Tanglad

Ever so often, I would crave for the comfort foods of my childhood. One of them would be the glorious KBL my parents cook for us when all the ingredients would be available to them. It's a treat when this happens because I remember it seldom does.

You see, with 3 other siblings, my family had very little financial means and KBL would be a really pricey ulam if we have to buy all the ingredients to cook them. The pata (pork hocks) alone would cost my parents hundreds and we could never afford them except for special occasions like birthdays or fiestas and stuff.

But we have been really blessed with parents who are hardworking and who never stopped looking for ways to make life easier for us. As far back as I can remember my Nanay would cook puto (rice cake), or make sandwiches and sell them to our neighbors and their officemates to augment our "financial shortages".

Tatay has a small piggery and I have memories of  being woken up in the middle of the night so we can help Tatay when one of his sows (mother pig) gives birth. Some of the piglets would be sold when they reach 2-3 months of age. I would always feel sad for the little piglets being taken away from their mother, squealing at the top of their lungs. But what make me more sad is when the piglets who Tatay picks to stay and grow in his piggery reach the certain weight when they could be "harvested" and sold. 😭😭😭

We would then help Nanay and Tatay weigh the meat, and write down (on a piece of a cut cigarette box)  their weights and the name of our neighbors or their officemates to whom it would be sold to. One of the patas will then be saved for our KBL meal for that day.

I know that's the circle of life. But still, I couldn't help feeling sorry for them (who used to be my playmates when they were little piggies). Hahahaha. So most of the time I go somewhere else to play, then just come back when Nanay's calling us for lunch, with her and Tatay's KBL!

The cooked KBL in my pot

Back then, we only have to run to the wet market behind our house to buy kadyos and batwan if Tatay doesn't have any that may be harvested from his garden. Then we just go to the backyard to pick some tanglad and jackfruit. And there's a complete set of ingredients right there.

Here in Makati however, most of the ingredients are hard to find. Especially the souring agent batwan. So if you cannot find one of these you may substitute a pack of sinigang mix for it. I can, however, usually find a dried pack of kadyos in supermarkets, and occasionally the tanglad.

I'm very lucky my Nanay and Tatay still looks out for me and sends me these very valuable ingredients thru Ro-Ro time after time. Even when I lived for five years in Seoul I never run out of KBL supplies (thank you Nanay and Tatay!), albeit frozen, but they still get the job done.

My frozen tanglad and batwan supplies.

Here's my recipe for KBL. It's been incorparated with some modern procedure to catch up with the fast paced life of our time but I hope it still gives you the same warmth from my childhood that it gives me. 😊

The KBL on my plate. That's right. That's a woman's portion. And its only the first helping. 😂😂😂

Ingredients:

1 cup kadyos (pidgeon peas)
1 pork pata (hocks) sliced
1/4 kilo unripe jackfruit cubed (may be sliced thinly for shorter cooking time)
1 pork broth cube (10g)
1 large onion quartered
2 medium tomatos quartered
3 medium sized batwan or sinigang sampaloc mix
3 stalks tanglad (lemongrass) bundled or tied together
8 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. In a pressure cooker pot, place the pata slices, quartered tomatoes and onions, kadyos, water, pork broth cube, add salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then cook for 15 mins after the whistling starts.
2. Remove from fire and place pot under cold running water to relieve the pressure from the pot quickly. Once pressure is gone open the pot, place it back in the stove put the jackfruit cubes, and batwan then cook for 15 mins or until the jackfruit is cooked and tender. Add more water if preferred, adjust salt and pepper to taste, add the tanglad and simmer for a few more minutes until the tanglad aroma has seeped through the soup.
3. Serve hot with rice and enjoy!