White Corn and Vegetables Soup

Native white corn is a cooking corn. If cooked as corn on the cob, it takes more than a hour to fully cook. It is ideal for cooking when the kernels are sliced off the cob. When slow cooked with meat as a soup dish, the soup is thick, sticky and full of flavor.

To slice the kernels off the cob, remove the skin and hair of the corn. Hold it upright and slice the kernels from top to bottom, rotating the cob until all sides have been sliced. To shorten the cooking time and to cook a thicker and richer soup dish, do not slice the kernels whole. Slice them as though you were grating them coarsely. Alternatively, you can use a vegetable grater. Personally, I prefer not too because the juices are lost during the grating.

Where white corn is not available or when cooking in a hurry, canned cream-style corn may be substituted.

Ingredients :

3 c. of freshly sliced white corn kernels
400. g. of pork with a little fat, cut into 1″ x 1″ cubes
2 eggplants
5-6 pcs. of okra
1 bunch of talbos ng kamote, washed
1-1/2 tbsp. of finely minced garlic
1 onion, halved and sliced thinly
3 tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp. of cooking oil
patis or salt and pepper to taste
6 c. of water

Cooking procedure :

Heat the cooking oil in a casserole. Saute the garlic until fragrant. Add the sliced onion and diced tomatoes. Cook for a minute. Add the pork cubes. Continue cooking over high heat until the pork meat is not longer pink and the vegetables are soft. Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Add the corn kernels. Season with patis or salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer for an hour or until both the pork and corn are tender.

While the pork and corn are cooking, pick the leaves of the talbos ng kamote. Discard the stalks (we fed them to the hamsters). Cut off both tips of the okra and slice each piece diagonally into two. Halve the eggplants lengthwise; cut each half into 3 or 4 pieces.

When the pork and corn are tender, add the eggplants and okra. Continue cooking over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the talbos ng kamote leaves and stir, making sure that all the leaves are submerged in liquid. Cover and turn off the heat. Leave for another 3 minutes. Serve hot.