My ILOKANO PINAKBET

Every so often, I feel like eating pinakbet. Though I am adventurous in food, especially when we eat out I always order a different dish every time we go back to the same restaurant. 

However, I realized that no matter how deliciously different dishes are, after a while we long for the food that we are accustomed to. Do you agree? 

Today I thought I’d cook pinakbet. Here is my recipe for two, left overs do not go to waste because a day or two-old pinakbet taste better if properly refrigerated; that is if you like to replay your dish. 

                   Ingredients 

8-inch long ampalaya cut into strips diagonally 

2 pcs medium eggplant cut as in photo

3 tbsp cooking oil

4-5 meduim tomatoes 

1 matchbox size ginger, sliced or crushed 

1 medium onion, sliced in half-moon

1 tbsp minced garlic 

6-7 pcs okra, both ends removed and cut in half 

1 native green pepper

1 tbsp salt

3 tbsps fish sauce

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme 

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp white sugar

4-5 pcs old chicharon that lost their crunch -optional ,

Or 1/4 kilo pork belly optional. 

            Procedure

1- Cut the ampalaya diagonally and dredge in 1 tsp salt, allow to sweat, press to remove juice and wash 3 times. 

Steam until cooked. Set aside.

2-in a pan big enough to hold the entire dish, sautee in oil onions, ginger and garlic. Cook for one minute 

3- add tomatoes, okra and eggplant and green pepper Mix to incorporate the sauce and until veggies wilt a bit. 

4- add fish sauce, ground pepper, thyme, salt and steamed ampalaya

Add 1 1/2 cups water and continue cooking. 

5- stir veggies until fully cooked. And the dish is done. 

Notes: 

-choose the palest ampalaya that you can find, they are not too bitter .

-the secret for a delicious pinakbet is in the generous amount of tomatoes. I even added the remaining 1/4 can of diced tomatoes. 

-Notice I did not put string beans and squash. Not in our family. I believe putting beans and squash is the Tagalog version

-It would be nice if we can get these native veggies like patani, baeg and bagbagkong to add to the dish. 

-Some use shrimp paste for saltiness, or even the brown anchovy sauce. That is a matter of choice.