PINAKBET

Pinakbet, orginally an Ilocano dish, has had many adaptations as it got passed on to various generations and regions, and has become as popular as adobo. But the good thing is, after all the add-ons, pinakbet remains to be the delicious, nutritious dish that it has primarily been.

The Ilocano version contains only ampalaya (bitter gourd), okra, talong (eggplant), ripe tomatoes and bagoong (anchovy sauce). These are placed inside a pot in that order, and allowed to simmer for some time until the vegetables are cooked but not soggy. If you wish to cover your rice adequately with the delicious sauce, you may add 1/4 cup of rice washing.

The Tagalog pakbet sees more color in its preparation as kalabasa (squash), sitaw (long beans or string beans) and luya (ginger) are added. The Visayan pakbet has alamang (shrimp paste) to give it the salty taste.

Anyway, as we probably like having squash in our pakbet for that 'good-for-the-eyes' consciousness, let's have the Tagalog pakbet in the menu.

PINAKBET

Ingredients

1 ampalaya, sliced
1 eggplant, sliced
1 medium wedge squash, diced
6 pieces string beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
6 pieces okra, each sliced into 2 or 3 small pieces
1 cup pork, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 thumb ginger, sliced
4 pieces ripe tomatoes, sliced
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
4 tbsp bagoong, or to taste
1/4 cup water or rice washing

In 2-3 tbsp cooking oil, sauté garlic, onion, ginger and tomatoes. Add pork. Cook till brownish. Add bagoong. Add water and let boil, making sure the meat is cooked well. Then lower the heat. Put in the squash, let simmer until it's cooked (dark yellow). Then add in amplaya, okra, eggplant, and string beans. Simmer. Taste test and add more bagoong if needed. If you want it more saucy, just increase your water to 1/2 cup...or 1 cup...but not more than that, because that would be another story.

Don't overcook the greens. Don't worry about okra, eggplant and string beans getting half-cooked (just not meat, okay?) because these can actually be eaten raw. Not overcooking saves the vitamins and minerals inherent in the vegetables.

Fish bagoong may be substituted with alamang (shrimp paste), or just the patis (fish sauce). If you are allergic to any of these, you can actually just settle for asin (salt), or gata (coconut milk) and salt. Goes well with grilled or fried fish, meat, or seafood, and of course, rice! Naimas iti pakbet!!!