Roots & Recipes: Draft

Also known as Pigs Feet Soup, Lauya is a Filipino soup dish favored by most Filipinos. Lauya is one of my favorite dishes ever since I was a baby. Sitting in my room before lunch/dinner and smelling the aroma of freshly cut garlic, onions, cabbage, bay leaves, and patis (also known as fish sauce) puts me to the edge of my seat as I wait impatiently for my mom to call me and tell me "It's time to eat!"


As a child, it all started when my grandma would always cook a similar dish, contained of chicken (instead of Pigs Feet) with papaya, soaked in Patis. The flavor of the broth had gotten craving for more.. so much that I begged my mom to make more for me. And finally, one day, she made a similar, more known dish.. Lauya! 


Oh boy, I've had many experiences with this recipe, so much I can't even list all of them. At family parties, Lauya would always be on the dinner table.  Either my grandma or my mom made it. When we're in the living room watching TV, with the kitchen right next to us, my cousins & I would always hear my mom or grandma making the dish - we would hear the broth boiling (with its contents inside), and the bubbles from the broth making popping noises -*Pop!* *Pop!*- distracting us from our show. & Finally, when the dish was finished, we watch my grandma or mom lay the hot, sizzling pot onto the dinner table. We patiently wait for the soup to cool down. Then as we get the "OK" to go and eat, we grab a bowl, go to the rice cooker, put our rice in our bowl, and rush to the soup! "YUMMMMM!" says everyone when they take their first slurp from the soup.


To me, the broth, consisted of just the flavor from the bones, cartilage, and meat from the pigs feet, and a teaspoon of Patis, is the best part of the whole dish. Whenever I was sick and have a cold, my mom would always cook Lauya so I could slurp the broth & it would help clear out my runny nose. And when my mom would make Lauya for dinner, she always made extra broth just for my pleasure. She puts the extra broth in a separate bowl and leaves it on the dining table for me to "drink" it. Whenever someone would make Lauya, I would eat as much as my stomach can hold.. so much that I can't even walk to the sink to wash my dishes. I lick off the remaining particles of the dish from my mouth, and as I try to get up to the sink to wash my dishes, I stumble back down. It was so filling that I can't even get up. & As I'm sitting back down, I say to myself, "Mmm, that was delicious!"