An excellent book is Eric Toensmeier's Perennial Vegetables- Artichoke to Zuiki Taro. While his book is intended to apply to the lower 48, Hawaii, and Canada, he does show many tropical vegetables and list information sources.
Before reading his book, I had planted a cheap (because identification had been lost) lotus in a 17 gallon tub I bought for $5.99 from kmart, interested in lotus root to go with stir fries. The lotus grew well and I planted 4 more tubs as well as eating lotus root. The next year I planted 4 more. Now I have planted 3 more tubs and my rear yard is turning mostly into tubs.
The year after I started lotus I planted a cement mixing pan, approximately 2 ft by 4 ft by 6 inches, to water chestnuts. This year I have 4 of those tubs planted to water chestnuts and they are just getting to harvest stage.
The rest is ideas gleaned from Eric's book.
Last winter I ordered water meal from a pond plant supplier. If raised in hard water it has excessive oxalic acid to be edible so I have been trying to keep those two tubs where they get runoff from the roof. Watermeal is a high protein green widely used in SE Asia.
I have 2 pots planted to water celery and 1 to neptunia, neptunia is another high protein plant good for stir fries or salads.
I also have 3 tubs planted to wapato, or duck potato.
This autumn I planted 2 cement mixing pans to groundnuts (apios Americana)
Because of your location you might try katuk, or sauropus, and also chaya. I got mine from the Echo Farm's Global Demonstration farm in North Fort Myer about 10 years ago. Chaya makes an excellent cooked green, but because of small amounts of hydrocyanide in the leaf needs to be boiled for 3 -5 minutes, drained, fresh water added and boiled again. It should not be eaten raw or stir fried. Taste is similar to mild collards and much better than spinach. Katuk is delicious, tastes like a combo of peas and peanut. It can be eaten raw in salads or stir fried. These 2 along with moringa, are the 3 most nutritious green vegetables on the planet, high in protein, minerals, and coincidentally all 3 are trees that can be maintained as shrubs. If you want, I can root you cuttings when I prune my chaya.
Personally I have had too much ill effects from rootknot nematodes to want to plant in the ground anymore So I tend to plant everything in containers, yes, even the trees (my 3 in 1 lowchill combo apple struggled an died. After I read the ebook on raising apples in hot climates from
www.kuffelcreek.com, I started ordering apples from
www.bighorsecreekfarm.com, heritage Southern apples.) Not particularly lowchill. They are doing pretty well in big 45 gallon tree pots- my King David, Wealthy, Terry Winter Keeper, Arkansas Black, Brogden, Hoover, Victorian Limbertwig and Golden Grimes) I also have an olive, 2 peaches, a fig, and a yacon and a tree kale in pots. The yacon just bloomed two weeks ago so I can harvest any time now. The yacon is a dig and replant perennial.
Also in your zone consider monstera deliciousa as a fruit. It seems to do better as a shrub than as a vine. My limas and edible loofahs tend to live for 3-4 years, they are also perennial, and we have managed to grow winged beans for the first time this year.
Something else to consider is tropical clumping bamboo, it doesn't act like running bamboo, which is what most of us think of when someone mentions bamboo. Visit
www.tropicalbamboo.com and you will learn a lot about this perennial vegetable.
I am trying to consider celery stem taro and gunnora, not sure quite where to site those as my yards are already so full and I have ordered 4 more apples and want more peaches too.
Strongly encourage you to visit ECHO on their Farm Day
www.echonet.com. You will learn more about tropical gardening (and permaculture in the tropics) than you ever thought possible.
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