Pinakbet
Philippines is an archipelago and a tropical country. It is no doubt that variety of plants has been able to grow fantastically. Trees, fruits, and vegetables can be gathered anywhere. With these, Filipinos have created a delectable veggie dishpinakbet. It is an indigenous meat-vegetable meal that includes Filipino style of cooking‘gisa’ and mixing of different vegetables like squash, string beans, eggplant, okra, ampalaya etc. Others prefer to add chicharon or malunggay in it. Usually, pork is used for this dish but sometimes shrimp is used instead.
It is believed that this dish originated in the northern part of the Philippines, specifically, Ilocos. Even its name is from an Ilokano term ‘pinakebbet’ which means ‘to shrink’. Ilokano pinakbet uses bagoong, particularly alamang, to enhance its flavor. However, some uses coconut milk instead. Ilokanos generally uses ‘dinengdeng’ for their vegetable dishes but what differentiates pinakbet from dinengdeng is its way of cooking and even its ingredients.