Kangkong (Tagalog) or tangkong
(Aklanon) is called in English, sometimes as swamp
cabbage or water spinach although it's not really
cabbage or spinach. It's sort of ubiquituous in the Philippines,
it grows everywhere, in ditches, in ponds, on dry land, or in
cultivation. It is so abundant that we normally used this
vegetable as fillers for swine swill (bahog it baboy in
Aklanon).
There are many varieties, ranging from purple-stemmed
ones with narrow leaves to "white"-stemmed varieties with broader
leaves (see picture). Usually used as an ingredient in
sinigang (sour stew), it can stand on its own in superb
dishes like adobong kangkong or the Visayan dish called
apan-apan, literally translated as "like a grasshoper,"
(binagoongang kangkong in Tagalog), in which the crunchy
stalks of the vegetable is sauteed in tiny fermented shrimps.
