Pinakbet

Ilocano (Filipino) dish of mixed vegetables

Pinakbet (also called pakbet) is an indigenous Filipino dish from the northern regions of the Philippines. Pinakbet is made with a variety of mixed vegetables flavored with bagoóng. The word is the contracted from the Ilokano word pinakebbet, meaning "shrunk" or "shriveled."

Ilocano cuisine is characterized by dishes that are either salty or bitter, requiring rice. Original Ilocano pinakbet is seasoned with bagoóng of fermented fish (buggúong nga ikán) usually of anchovies (munámon). The dish includes bitter melon (paría). These two ingredients define the inclinations of the Ilocano palate. Other typical vegetables include eggplant (taróng), tomato (kamátis), okra, string beans (utóng), chilis (síli), hyacinth beans (párda), winged beans (pállang), and others. Root crops and some beans like sweet potato (kamótig), lima beans (patáni), pigeon peas (kárdis) are optionally added. Aromatics such as ginger (layá), shallots (sibúyas), and garlic (báwang) are commonly added. Many of these vegetables are easily accessible and are grown in the backyards and gardens of most Ilocano households. Smaller vegetables are left whole or partially sliced in half (okra, tomatoes, chilis, hyacinth beans, smaller varieties of bitter melon and eggplants, aromatics), larger vegetables are cut into finger length size (thinner eggplants, yardlong beans, winged beans), chopped into smaller chunks (larger varieties of bitter melon, sweet potatoes), and beans shelled from their pods (lima, pigeon peas). Absent from this list is calabaza (karabasa). Although widely grown in the Ilocos region, historically the cooking of calabaza was omitted from pinakbet because it took longer to cook in a claypot over a wood fire, compared to the other vegetables.

Bagoong provides the base. However, dried whole krill or smaller shrimps (áramang), larger headless dried shrimps (hébi), and dried anchovies, can be used to further enhance the broth similar to Japanese (出汁) or Korean dasima (다시마) without having to use MSG. Other than for the aromatic vegetables (garlic, ginger, shallots), no other flavoring enhancers and spices such as peppercorns or bay leaves are used. In Ilocano cuisine, meats are typically prepared separately on its own such as adobo or dinuguan (dinárdaraan) which contains no vegetables (or very few). Rather, meats including fish can be added as a garnish (ságpaw), typically stale or leftover lechon (lítson), chicharron (bágnet or tsitsarón) or fried fish (príto nga ikán). Rare and highly prized ingredients of fresh shrimps (pasáyan) or prawns (udáng) could also be used as sagpaw, when available.

Fats or oils are not used in the original preparation, either for the vegetables or proteins. The vegetables are cooked in a method between shallow boiling and steaming. A small amount of water is boiled in a pot (bánga). Some of this water is added to a bowl containing a small amount of buggúong. The buggúong is macerated with the water to dissolved. This mixture is then strained over the pot to remove fish debris such as bones to create a fish broth.