Pinakbet Tagalog Recipe

Pinakbet Tagalog recipe is a Filipino vegetable dish made with mixed vegetables, pork and shrimp flavored with shrimp paste or bagoong alamang.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian, Filipino

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 218kcal

1 medium onion chopped
5 cloves garlic minced
½ pound ground pork or sliced pork
½ pound shrimp peeled and deveined
1 - 2 tablespoons shrimp paste
2 medium tomatoes cubed
1 ½ cup water
½ small kabocha squash (kalabasa) peeled and cut into pieces about 1 ½ in x 1 ½ in
8 pieces okra
1 bunch yard long beans (handful) ends trimmed and cut to about 3 inches long
1 large eggplant top trimmed and cut diagonally about 1 inch thick
1 bitter melon (ampalaya) halved, deseeded and cut diagonally into ½ inch thick
salt or fish sauce to taste

Before cooking, soak bitter melon (ampalaya) in warm water with 1 teaspoon salt for about 10 minutes. Drain.
In skillet over medium heat, heat oil.
Saute onion until soft.
Add garlic and cook until golden.
Toss-in tomato and cook until soft and limp. Once soft, mash it with kitchen utensil.
Stir-in shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) and cook for about a minute and half.
Add ground pork and cook until pale in color.
Toss-in shrimp and cook until pink.
Pour water. Simmer.
Toss-in kabocha squash (kalabasa), cook for about 2 minutes. Note: Kabocha squash skin is edible and cooks at the same time as the kabocha flesh.
Add long beans (sitaw), eggplant and okra. Cook for about 4 minutes. Note: If matured okra, add it now but if tender it can be added towards the end.
Toss-in bitter melon, cook for about 2 minutes. Cook vegetables until tender yet crisp.
Season with salt or fish sauce.

Pick young okra if you are allowed to. Unfortunately, I can't. They package it with mature and young okra.
This is an extra step but if you feel some vegetables will over cook, transfer them to a platter while cooking the others. Cook vegetables tender yet crisp. Don't over cook as soggy vegetable is not good.
Start with the bitter melon (ampalaya) when preparing this dish so it has enough time to soak in water with salt. It will lessen the bitterness of the vegetable. Also, I add this last, since it precooked already in warm (not hot) water.
Lima beans is also a delicious ingredient.