Pinakbet is one of my favorite pinoy vegetable dishes of all time. Actually, just the thought of Pinakbet brings back good old memories of my late mother. I could still remember my mother keeping a portion of her cooked pinakbet for me to bring to the office, even without me telling her. She just knew it's my favorite!
Having seen people nowadays going back to being vegetable eaters, I also noticed that the Pinakbet actually has a lot of versions. But for good-old-memories sake, I would like to stick to the original and Ilocano-inspired Pinakbet.
So what are the Pinakbet ingredients? To keep our Pinakbet recipe as close to the original, here are the ingredients: Eggplant (choose the thin and small ones); ampalaya or bitter gourd (the small rounded ones are a must!); okra; long green chilies (looks like the "siling pansigang" less the super chili taste typical of the former); sweet potatoe or kamote;yound onions, a small portion of ginger and a generous amount of tomatoes. Of course nothing could beat a Pinakbet with a bagnet (lechon kawali for the urban people) or meaty chicharon on it!
For the procedure:
I always believe in slow cooking, especially when we sautee the first few ingredients, as it really brings out the flavor. Add a small amount of vegetable oil to sautee the onions, ginger and tomatoes (a good Pinakbet recipe must have a good amount of tomatoes!) Add in a good "fish bagoong" sauce. do not mix unntil it boils and mixes well with the sauteed ingredients. Put a cup of water, and boil the sweet potatoe until almost tender. Arrange the sauteed ingredients and the potatoe in a "palayok" adding last the ingredient that is easiest to cook. then top it with the bagnet.
After 1-2 minutes, toss it a little to ensure that it's all mixed. A good pinakbet recipe is one that is not overcooked....it should just be crispy and juicy.
Enjoy eating!
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