Recipe: Ilocano delicacy Guinataang Pinakbet

MANILA, Philippines — Tired of the usual Pinakbet that you’ve been eating all your life?

Give it a twist and add another flavor dimension to it by applying a second cooking technique to it. Make it Guinataang Pinakbet by adding gata (coconut milk) to it. It’s a creamy version of the Ilocano vegetable dish to which many variations have already been made. You’d be surprised at how good this reinvented vegetable dish is.

Guinataang Pinakbet

Ingredients:

2 Tbsps. vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pc. small onion, sliced

3 slices ginger, julienned

1 cup water

1 segment squash, peeled and cut into bite sizes

2 pcs. small eggplants, cut into bite sizes

5 pcs. string beans, cut into 2-inch lengths

10 pcs. okra, halved

1 pc. small ampalaya (bittergourd), halved, seeds scraped and sliced

1 cup gata (coconut milk)

4 pcs. dried flying fish (or other types of dried fish)

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in pan. Sauté garlic, onion and ginger.

2. Pour in water and let boil.

3. Add squash, eggplants, string beans and okra. Let boil.

4. Add ampalaya.

5. Pour in gata. Mix up vegetables.

6. Top with dried fish. Cover and allow to cook for a few minutes.