Pinakbet

Pinakbet

Pinakbet is a wonderful vegetable medley that's famous throughout the Philippines though its largely unknown outside of the country, unlike adobo and lumpia. It's very delicious and good for you.

Pinakbet (pronounced pin-AHK-bet) consists of a little pork (or chicken, or shrimp), winter squash or pumpkin, ampalaya (bitter gourd), green beans, okra and eggplant, seasoned with bagoong (Philippine shrimp paste) as well as the usual garlic, onions and broth. Beaten eggs are often added during the last part of cooking. The somewhat sweet flavor of the squash contrasts nicely with the slight bitterness of the ampalaya, and the firm and slightly crunchy texture of the green beans with the slight mushiness of the eggplant and okra.

In the Philippines we buy ready-made pinakbet mixture, consisting of all the vegetables (except garlic and onions, which are considered spices or seasonings rather than veggies in their own right) already cut up, so I'll have to kind of guess at proportions when telling you how to prepare it from scratch, but here goes (you'll probably have to buy your ampalaya and bagoong at a Filipino or Asian market, and I have no idea how or where you're going to find winter squash, okra and green beans in season at the same time, by the way):

Ginisang upo (sautéed white squash)

A white squash

My Filipina wife calls this vegetable "white squash" in English. The labels that supermarkets attach to them say "wintermelon" though, which I think is from the Chinese name for a variety of this vegetable which they grow there. A quick Google search tells me that the Filipino name is "upo" per a certain Filipino chef's blog, yet Google Translate says that "upo" means "sitting", so ???

Whatever you want to call it, it has a mild, somewhat buttery flavor that's very tasty when prepared in the ginisa style as it compliments the pork flavor quite well.

Sautéeing vs. braising: a discussion

The style in which we normally cook our (mostly vegetable) dishes is called ginisa (or ginisang, followed by the name of the main ingredient) which translates as sautéed or stir-fried. However, I learned from Jay Rosenberg's esteemed cookbook, The Impoverished Student's Book of Cookery, Drinkery and Housekeepery, that to sauté means "to cook in some oil until brown all over" and that doesn't accurately describe the Cebuano form of ginisa which entails parboiling the meat or chicken then cooking it, along with chopped onions and garlic, in some hot oil for just a few moments, then adding a small amount of soy sauce to give it its brown coloring.

Ginisang talong (sautéed eggplant)

Tonight's extravaganza will be ginisang talong. Ginisa (the "ng" acts as a linguistic "linker") actually translates to sautéed or stir-fried, but the way it's made here in Cebu is more like braising as there's a bit of water involved, not to mention the eggplants' own juices.

Like many other vegetables grown in the Philippines, the eggplants found here are rather small compared to those grown in the USA and other places. They're about the size of English cucumbers, so two eggplants per person is about the right amount for a main course.

You can actually cook several different vegetables in this same style: cabbage, pechay (bok choy), the other pechay (Chinese or Napa cabbage), sitaw (string/snap/green/haricot beans, whatever you want to call 'em), asparagus or yard-long beans, and others. It's the way we usually cook our vegetables, and we usually eat a fresh vegetable dish for dinner every night. It's really simple and easy.