Saluyot Soup

Let's go back on being native when it comes to dishes. Saluyot or Jute Leaves is one of the most common, healthy green leafy vegetable we have here in the Philippines. You can practically find it anywhere here in the country. Saluyot or Jute Leaves is one of my family's secret agent to a healthy lifestyle and long life. When I was a kid, my parents never really permitted us to eat junk food or eat in fast food restaurants that often. Our house was surrounded with so much vegetation. So in case we get hungry, my mom can easily whip up a dish with ingredients straight from our backyard. Camote, Alugbati and Saluyot. And my mom would often accompany our food with Saluyot Soup, which is easy to make by the way.

There were times though when my siblings and I would complain and ask for a new kind of soup to be served on the table. The common complaint: "saluyot na naman!" ("saluyot, AGAIN!"). Now that we're older, we realized that hey, Saluyot is keeping us away from hospitals and preventing us from getting sick.

I serve it to my own family now. My son loves it! especially with plain hot white rice and just the soup with the leaves topping his whole plate of rice.

SALUYOT SOUP

Servings: 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of Saluyot Leaves (Jute Leaves) -washed, leaves removed from the stem, chopped into pieces.
• 1/2 liter water
• 5 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 pieces chicken breast fillet (chopped into bite sized pieces)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

How To:

• In a sauce pan, quickly saute garlic in olive oil.
• Add chopped chicken and stir until half-cooked.
• Add 1/2 liter of water, bring to boil.
• Add the chopped Saluyot leaves.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

*Eating natural jute regularly helps control blood pressure & cholesterol, and lowers the risk of asthma, cancer, diabetes and heart disease. -source-