#12: Simple Pinakbet (yackety yack part)

Pinakbet was something frowned upon by us three Nicomedes siblings. During our youth, we were carnivores. But learning how to love vegetables come with the wisdom of age. :-D This used to be a non-favorite because one, I was too young to want to eat veggies, and two, too foolish to realize that it is one of the tastiest pinoy vegetable dish ever. You just have to learn the trick to cook it right.
That means you have to draw all the flavors out of the vegetables and two, maintain as much nutrients from them as possible. Now Pinakbet came into my radar when I saw a cooking show demonstrate how to cook it.. However, I was a bit frustrated that the aromatics were not sauteed well and just made up for it by putting a whole pack of umami-laden powder in it. I thought, "Hey! That's cheating!" I was then challenged to cook a this vegetable dish and make it yummier even without that cheat powder.


And so I put on my game face and planned how to make my pinakbet as tasy and as nutritious as I can muster. You know what the trick is? Bagoong! Our featured ingredient for this entry! It is fish or shrimp paste fermented in salt. It is very pungent and some folks can't stand it. In this recipe, we will use both kinds. If you are on a budget, any pork meat will do as meat ingredient but this will become veggie heaven if you have in your pantry some bagnet! Bagnet is the Ilocano version of pork belly boiled to tenderness in salt and water then slow deep-fried in fat... Oooooh-lala! Well, it doesn't really bode well for your cholesterol level if you are a couch potato, or if you, like, eat fried pork every other day. Once a month bagnet should be fine. :-D


So, I cooked my own pinakbet and sighed as I relished the sharp, savory bagoong flavor, the buttery texture of the kalabasa, and the crunch of fresh string beans and ampalaya (bitter gourd) of course on a mound of steaming rice. Solb-solb! I know some of you may be experts in this already but I fell like sharing this to people who would like to go home to their Pinoy roots and discover the simple pleasures of a tasty vegetable dish.


(Uhm, so tell us the recipe already!)


Ah okay. On my next entry comes the recipe!!!