Ilocano delicacies boosted by superfood malunggay (moringa) took center stage during the “Dulang” (food) cookfest as part of the 4th Marunggay Festival.

Using powdered marunggay (Ilocano term for malunggay) leaves, Thursday’s cook-off participants, composed of high school and college students, presented innovative dishes like pusi-lunggay, a steamed stuff squid with pork and marunggay leaves; and KBL (Kamatis or tomato, Bagoong or fermented seafood paste, Lasona) pasta with marunggay pesto that was infused with padas (salted rabbitfish) and bagnet (deep-fried pork belly).

Other dishes were chicken roulade with marunggay pesto, marunggay embutido (meatloaf), moringa longanisa (sausage) and moringa cordon bleu.

The participants also added the powdered marunggay to favorite Ilocano desserts like kalti (fried banana/sweet potato/glutinous rice balls with dipping sauce made of caramelized brown sugar, tapioca, and vanilla extract), bilo-bilo (glutinous rice balls cooked in coco milk), and bukayo (strips of coconut meat cooked in caramelized brown sugar).

“Its subtle flavor also offers exciting possibilities for unique desserts,” Erwin Suguitan, municipal tourism officer of Vintar and event judge, said.

“All the participants were competitive and we had a hard time judging their entries,” restaurant owner Christine Joy Salvador, another judge, said.

Winners of the competition will be announced Friday afternoon.

Malunggay is one of the world’s most nutritious crops because its pods, leaves, seeds and roots are edible.

Per weight basis, health experts said the leaves of malunggay have more beta-carotene than carrots, more protein than peas, more Vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more potassium than bananas and more iron than spinach. They also contain a good balance of essential amino acids.

Aside from food, malunggay can also be used for feeds, medicine, dye, oil, water purifier, fertilizer, pesticide, as well as fence, rope, soft wood and live trellis, among others.

“I hope that through this program, marunggay will be further promoted as a superfood,” Mayor Michael Keon said.

The city government continues to promote planting of marunggay while enticing more farmers and investors to maximize its potential in the global market.

To date, all the city’s 80 villages are expanding their plantations, utilizing idle lots, including village streets which are now planted with marunggay trees.

In this city, marunggay is a profitable income source through the government’s various intervention programs like livelihood training, like food processing that turns marunggay leaves into noodles, cookies, pretzels, pan de sal (Filipino bread roll) and beauty products such as soaps and lotions. (PNA)