Can you believe that this is the first time I cooked Pinakbet in my whole life considering this is a staple in our household?
I believe I had taken it for granted because it was always there plus I never liked my mom’s version…
Ssshhhhh….don’t tell her.
Today, with the KCC theme in mind, I made my own version of Pinakbet.
Pinakbet is a popular Ilocano dish made with vegetables and shrimp paste. It is usually made with snake beans, bittermelon, okra, squash and eggplant.
I discovered that I don’t like pork in my Pinakbet, I like it served on the side or as a topping to this dish in the form of Lechon Kawali or Deep Fried Pork belly.
I also discovered that I don’t like a lot of eggplants in there….
..and the best discovery of all, I discovered that I cook delicious Pinakbet.
{This one came from my nanay, I actually heard her whispering it to my tatay…LOL!}
Lots of discoveries today…hmmnnn..
Squash Blossoms are so pretty…. It’s a good thing that they’re edible.
- 500g pork belly, sliced for frying
- 5 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 bunch kangkong leaves
- 1 bittermelon, seeds removed and sliced
- 1 eggplant, cut into pieces
- 2 cups squash, diced or sliced
- 10 pcs okra, each sliced diagonally into 2
- 10 pcs squash blossoms, cleaned {remove the thing in the middle and the stem}
- 2 pcs taro or gabi, sliced
- 3 tbsp shrimp paste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup water
- Deep fry pork belly slices in hot oil until brown and delicious. Set aside for later.
- In the same pan, with most of the oil removed, sauté garlic, onion and tomato until onions are translucent and tomatoes are wilted.
- Add shrimp paste and . Give it a good stir.
- Add squash and taro. Simmer for 5 minutes or until these veggies are tender.
- Add bittermelon, eggplant and okra. Simmer for another five minutes. Stir.
- Add the remaining ½ cup water if the sauce is drying up.
- Add the kangkong leaves and the squash blossoms when the vegetables are almost cooked
- Top with chopped fried pork belly and serve with steamed rice.
♥NOTE: I tried taking a photo of the one with fried pork belly but the vegetables can’t be seen, so I opted not to show you that photo.
—♥♥♥—
KCC or Kulinarya Cooking Club’s Theme for August & September is to showcase a dish with the colors RED, WHITE, BLUE and YELLOW to commemorate National Heroes Day and Ninoy Aquino’s death anniversary.
For RED, it’s the tomatoes. They might be a little on the orange side but it was reddish when it was raw.
For WHITE, I put gabi or taro. It turned dirty white when it was touched by the shrimp paste…
For YELLOW, I have squash and squash blossoms
And for BLUE, I wanted the eggplant to be my blue. I forgot that it turns green when cooked..LOL! So, I used a blue dish, instead…
Hosts? I hope this passes the theme…
Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colourful cuisine. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.
Drop by the blogs of the other KCC members who participated in this challenge:
Caroline on Salted Duck Egg and Tomato Salad
Malou on Adobo Wrap with Pineapple Vinaigrette
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