Layered Vegetable Stew (Pinakbet)
A popular Filipino dish, the basic components of pinakbet (also called pakbet) are tomatoes, squash, long beans, bitter melon, okra, eggplant, and fish sauce (patis) or fermented shrimp paste (bagoong). A version from California food blogger Marvin Gapultos uses only fish sauce. Don’t pay too much attention to evenly chopping and measuring the vegetables; they don’t have to be perfect. For the tomatoes, follow Marvin’s mom’s lead: she sticks her thumbs in the stem ends and rips them apart! Serve with a meat dish like Chicken Adobo and freshly steamed rice.
Time: 1¼ hours (45 minutes active)
Makes: 6 to 8 servings as part of a multicourse family-style meal
Ingredients:
- 1½ pounds (about 5) very ripe large tomatoes, roughly chopped or ripped apart with your hands
- 1 pound (about ½ small) kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch cubes
- 1 small bitter melon, seeded and cut into ½-inch-thick crescents (1 cup)
- 1 small Japanese eggplant, halved lengthwise and cut into ½-inch-thick half moons (1 cup)
- 8 ounces (about 16) fresh young okra pods, stems trimmed and caps left intact
- 8 ounces long beans, trimmed and cut into 3-inch lengths (2 cups)
- 1 small sweet onion, cut into thin crescents (¾ cup)
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce, plus more as needed
- 4 ounces deep-fried pork belly (chicharron), chopped into bite-sized pieces (1 cup) (optional)
Instructions:
- Place half of the tomatoes in the bottom of a 4- to 5-quart pot or Dutch oven (just big enough to fill to the top with vegetables). Layer the squash, melon, eggplant, okra, long beans, and onion on top, then top with the remaining tomatoes. Add the water and fish sauce.
- Bring the stew to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, without stirring. Add the pork belly and simmer for another 10 minutes. The vegetables should be tender but not mushy and there should be just enough liquid for a light sauce. If the vegetables are not tender enough for your liking, simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add more fish sauce if necessary.
Pat’s Notes:
- Tomatoes are an important ingredient here and determine how flavorful the final dish will be; use organic tomatoes in season, if possible. Ripe tomatoes will yield more juice.
- Okra and bitter melon are definitely acquired tastes. You can omit them and increase the amount of the other vegetables if you so choose but according to Marvin, “without the bitter melon, it’s not really a true pinakbet.”
- Chicharron, called bagnet in the Philippines, is sometimes available freshly fried at Asian or Latin markets. You can also make the fried bits at home—simply deep-fry slivers of pork belly, ensuring each piece has skin, fat, and meat, until they are golden-brown and crisp. Or buy fried pork rinds (available in bags) that are eaten as a snack. They’ll render enough fat for an equally flavorful dish.
