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Pinakbet: A Classic Filipino Recipe

Pinakbet with coconut milk
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Pinakbet is a delightful Filipino dish that is brimming with flavor and nutrients. The traditional recipe here is made more delicious by coconut milk. So grab your ingredients, get cooking, and enjoy this delicious vegetable dish.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 200g fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 3 tbsp shrimp paste
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium-sized white onion, sliced
  • 1 medium-sized tomato, chopped
  • 4 tbsps cooking oil
  • 200g string beans, cut into 3-inch pieces
  • 200g pumpkin, cut roughly
  • 150g Chinese eggplants, cut diagonally
  • 100g bitter gourd, sliced
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup water (to be used sparingly)

Instructions

  1. Sautee garlic and onions in cooking oil over medium-high heat and cook until onions are tender.
  2. Add shrimps and cook until pinkish in color. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.
  3. Lower heat to medium, then add shrimp paste and cook while stirring for a minute.
  4. Add tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are broken down.
  5. Add the vegetables and simmer over medium heat until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Note that you can add the vegetables separately depending on which ones cook longer, i.e., pumpkin first, then the eggplants, followed by string beans and ampalaya (bitter gourd). Add water at this stage if you feel the water content from the vegetables is not enough.
  6. Pour coconut milk into the vegetable mixture. Season with salt and fish sauce, and continue to simmer for an additional 3 minutes.
  7. Add shrimp, then turn once.
  8. Turn off the heat. Transfer onto a serving dish.
  9. Your pinakbet with coconut milk is ready to serve.

Find it online: https://feastfulfork.com/pinakbet/