Pinakbet

1/3 kg. yellow squash, sliced into cubes

1 long bitter gourd.

a bunch of string beans

8-10 pcs. okra

4 eggplant

1 ½ cups diced tomatoes

3 long green chillies

2-3 tbsp garlic, finely crushed

2 medium onions, finely sliced

a knob of ginger, roughly crushed

1 cup fresh shrimp extract

½ cup bagoong alamang (shrimp paste)

¼ kg. pork

2 tbsp lard or cooking oil

water

In a deep pan, heat the oil and fry the garlic till golden brown then add the onions till transparent. Add the ginger and then the tomatoes. Simmer till it is a pasty consistency then stir in the shrimps then the bagoong and let dry to ‘toast’ the mixture.

Stir the pan to keep the mixture from burning then pour in the shrimp extract. Again, let it ‘toast’ and pour in a tablespoon or two of water if it gets too dry then add the pork. When the pork has become tender, put in the squash and the chillies. You can add the chillies later if you don’t like the pinakbet spicy or even omit completely.

After around five minutes, add the bitter gourd, let it sweat till half-cooked then add the beans. At this point, the small slices of squash have become very tender and tend to thicken the sauce.

When the bitter gourd and the beans are around 3 minutes from being done, put in the okra. Stir gently, then sweat for a minute then add the aubergine. Pour in a small amount of water if it becomes too dry. Simmer gently then test all the vegetables for doneness. Turn off the heat and cover the pan for a few minutes before serving.