Recipe: Perfect Pinakbet

Pinakbet. Slice bitter melon lengthwise; remove seeds and white center. Saute garlic, ginger, and onions until tender. Pinakbet Tagalog is a Filipino vegetable dish.

This recipe is a variation of the popular Pinakbet Ilocano. Pinakbet or Pakbet is a Filipino vegetable stew from the Ilocos region. Its name is derived from the Ilocano word pinakebbet which means "shriveled", in reference to the vegetables being sweated in the pot over low heat until "shrunken". You can have Pinakbet using 9 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Pinakbet

1. You need of garlic cloves; roughly chopped.
2. Prepare of an onion; cut into wedges.
3. It's of tomato; chopped.
4. It's of rd kabocha squash; chopped into 1” cubes.
5. You need of pork.
6. It's of shrimp paste (Bagoong).
7. Prepare of okra.
8. You need of green beans; cut into 2” pieces.
9. You need of Chicken broth.

The dish makes use of indigenous produce, root crops, and beans that are accessible and plentiful in the area such as okra, ginger. In a pan, heat the cooking oil, saute garlic and onion until browned. Add tomatoes, shrimp paste and msg or vetsin then mix together. Add squash, eggplant, bitter melon, okra and chili finger then mix together.

Pinakbet step by step

1. Prep your ingredients. Have them ready, at hand..
2. Sauté the onions first. Then garlic..
3. Then add your tomato. You don’t have to wait too long for these to cook..
4. Now you can add your pork. I used ground pork but you can use whatever you got. Cook until no longer pink..
5. Add in the shrimp paste. Note: traditionally, this recipe calls for Bagoong - purple shrimp paste. I used Thai shrimp paste bc that’s what I had..
6. Add in your kabocha squash and cook for about 2 mins. I added 1/2 cup of chicken broth..
7. Then your okra..
8. Then your green beans..
9. Top with salt & pepper, and voila! Enjoy :).

Pakbet or pinakbet ilocano is vegan dish from the northern provinces of the Philippines, Ilocos. In this dish you can find bitter Melon, eggplant, okra, and string beans. This distinctive dish is a popular food around Filipina. In Filipino surrounding areas, different versions took root. Saute garlic, ginger, and onions until tender.