Just soaking it would only take a minimal amount of bitterness. My mom used to put a lot of salt squeeze the hell out of it! Then she rinses off the salt with cold water. She used to do it since I was a picky eater when I was a kid, now in my mid 20s and still do her method whenever I want to eat a dish with bitter melons.
@@Gwynbleiddsanitythis method works with eggplant too. The salting draws out the bitter liquid. I’ve had bitter melon a few times cooked by a Chinese friend of mine and it was not that bad actually. Not sure how he prepped it before cooking (or if he even did prep it)
I know some ilocanos cook it without adding any water. Something about the gentle heating of claypots allow you to extract the vegetable juices that turns into a flavorful broth.
Well, I am ilocano and I can say we don't sauté pinakbet. His pinakbet is called pakbet tagalog. Also fun fact, authentic ilocana grandmas doesn't even mix it they just shake the pan to mix everything up. The purpose of that is to not get the veggies all mushy. One more thing, Ilocanos doesn't use bagoong alamang in their pinakbet, instead they use bagoong isda.
My family is from Ilocos Norte, so dinengdeng is an every day dish, you just switch up the veges depending the day and the season 🤷🏾♀️ When making pinakbet my mum taught me to stack a pan with the hardiest veges at the bottom and the easiest to cook at the top so they all cook at once but have a variety of bite, or 'doneness' ❤
My favorite Filipino dish. (Most Asian working-class families know about bitter melon. High in potassium for those outdoor hot summer days. that and sweet potato leaves Laing.
Its good for wounds too. And fun fact this dish origins are from mayan empire. Mexicans brought it to the philippines and the filipinos added the bitter melon and string beans and probably pork too. Some variations of pinakbet has coconut milk as well.
Sweet Potato leaves are "Talbos ng Kamote" which are usually steamed and paired with fried fish. You're talking about Taro leaves (dahon ng gabi) or Spinach which are usually dried before being cooked as Laing lol.
The Filipino dishes are its own Iceberg Charts, and those at the bottom-most are some of the most primitive, simple, and healthiest things you will find in the country (each region having their own delicacy, twists on Filipino dishes, or their specialty main dish sometimes). One instance of this is Saluyot complemented with Patis (fish sauce) or Bagoong (fish paste) common in Central Luzon. Another example of this is Talbos ng Kamote (Sweet Potato Leaves) steamed alongside Pritong (Fried) Tilapia topped with either Bagoong or Soy Sauce; Ripe Mangoes, Tomatoes, and Raw Onions if you're feeling fancy. There are more obscure healthy Filipino dishes, some I'm not even aware or familiar with.
me too. pakbet without squash and bitter gourd is of small sizes. My tatay who is half Ilocano and half Pangasinense, cooks pakbet with squash flower instead and that one veggie that looks like worm but very expensive and hard to find in the market
I can eat bittermelon, but I can never eat okra. I always give them to my parents or to anyone I am eating with. 😅 But yeah pinakbet is very common vegetable dish in the PH.
What my Ilocano dad used to do is in a pan, he adds every ingredients of pinakbet, add salt and closes with a lid and let it cook over medium low fire. No need to add oil, as the meat will render it's own fat and the salt will act to release the moisture of the veggies that steams it in the end, it cooks by itself and no need to stir all the time. Just check and stir once in a while. It always comes out great. You may add bagoong or patis if you don't like to add more salt.
As a Filipino, you know you’ve become an adult when you start liking this dish. I hated every single thing about pinakbet as a kid. Now I have it at least once every 2 weeks.
Bitter melon is called AMPALAYA in the Philippines. This is one version of pinakbet. There are several versions but all are delicious. Thank you for showing other Filipino dish as we have so many. I wonder if you could show relyenong bangus? Ginisang vegetables? 🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤😊
Filipino vegetable dishes: 1. Law-oy, laswa, dinengdeng, bulanglang- (a vegetable soup) with different names in each region. Common veggies on it are Leaves- saluyot, malunggay, alugbati or even bitter melon leaves. Other are squash, okra, eggplant, upo, young papaya, sitaw, you can add ampalaya and tanglad(lemon grass) as well. It's really delicious partnered with fried fish. My most comfort Filipino dish. 2. Ginataang gulay- it's like pakbet but only with coconut milk on it and without bagoong. 3. Any Ginisang gulay - baguio beans -adobong sitaw - sayote -papaya -upo -kalabasa - apan-apan (any leaves) - beans ( monggo, tabyos, white beans, green peas). Also these can be cook in coconut milk version as well. I can't remember the rest but these are the common one... Some fruits in Philippines were also cooked as vegetables. Common way of cooking are sarsa(sausy), ginataan(coconut milk in) sinabawan( soup), and ensalada or grilled. These are also apply to the meats. Filipino also loves pickles or fermented like atsara.
There are a lot filipino food that is vegan or veggie based. Pinakbet has a resemblance to french ratatouille. Other known dishes are ginataang gulay (stewed veggies in coconut milk) Diningdeng (vegetable soup sinmered with roasted fish and bagoong) poqui poqui, tortang talong etc etc
In the Visayas, we have Utan Bisaya, Law-oy, Sari-Sari, Lawot-Lawot, Dagmay, Puso sa saging, Tinunuang Nangka, Tinunuangetc Kapayas, etc.. Basically in Leyte, any veggie can be cooked in coconut cream.
Ilocanos in Northern Phillipines are sometimes said to be "goats' rival" for veggies- leaves. I think among the different regions, Ilocanos eat the most veggies.. particularly leaves. For one, they have the iconic "pakbet", but they eat way more beyond those veggies, many other regions do not usually eat or care about.
Filipino food tends to cook vegetables like most Asian cuisines instead of making it salads so when ppl see it they don’t think of it as relatively healthy, but as long as your eating actual food that’s all that matters
As an Ilocano, we usually do not put kalabasa (squash) in our pakbet because we like it to be more on a saltier side, and squashes were usually not part of the commonly planted veggies in a typical Ilocano garden back in the day. When the Tagalogs were introduced to this dish, they added squash for sweetness. I have no problem with it because it still tastes great, but I prefer the Ilocano version more with just the parya(bittergourd), tarong(eggplant), siling haba(green chillies), pallang (winged beans), utong (long beans), okra, and my fav, alukon (birch flowers). However, food is subjective and it's better to use and support local ingredients than ordering ingredients from faraway just to make a dish authentic, so just put in any vegetable you want I guess 😂
Bagoong isda is the best to add... especially authentic.. sarap kung Bagnet din, but anyways kahit gulay lang basta masarap pagkaluto! Perfect Pinakbet! 👌
In my family, we use fish sauce (which we call bagoong) instead of shrimp paste (which we call alamang). Still both works. Also, for those that don't eat pork you could use fried fish or chicken instead.
Ordered pinakbet takeout na naging inspiration ko sa mga future cooking ko. Ginamit nilang pork was leftover lechon I'm pretty sure. Ang alternative ko is bibili ako ng Liempo (yung luto na sa tindahan ng lechon/liempo ). Tas shrimp na fresh yung sahog nung sa takeout. shrimp paste lang ako or dried shrimp bec of the price. . . . Vegetables: Kalabasa (never leave out squash otherwise di na pakbet yan), Talong, String beans, okra. yung ibang gulay depende nalang sa available. yung sa takeout may konting ampalaya but I can't use the whole fruit up so I never buy it.
I'm English and I live in the most northern part of Eastern samar. A dish like this would be a once a month dish for the local people here. They just can't afford the vegetables. I'm lucky, I can afford veggies and can insist on lots of every day, but most people in my baranguy eat mainly rice with fish three times a day with vert little vegetables.
Here in La Union, Bulanglang dayta. Pinakbet has only bitter gourd, okra and round eggplant then it uses bagoong dilis not really shrimp paste and yes some pork belly for both dishes,,
I dont eat bitter melon before or veggies really(i only eat a few like cabbage and kangkong) but when i got pregnant 10yrs ago,i started eating veggies and ginisang ampalaya and pinakbet has been one of my fave veggie dishes!
The best way to lessen the bitterness of the bitter melon is after cleaning and slicing it, soak it in a bowl of water with salt for at least half an hour before cooking it.
My Filipino partner makes all the best pinoy dishes, but we never add as many veg as we should. I think it's because we don't have access to the same exciting veg you get in Philippines. When we do get to the global food stores, the stuff we end up coming back with is amazing! (Except bitter melon you can keep that 😂😂)
In Ilocos, our pinakbet doesn't have squash in it which is my preffered version since there's already a different similar dish with squash as the star of the dish.
eating and enjoying bitter melon is an acquired taste. Drinking bitter liquors vs bitter melon. I would choose bitter melon. I love it more if it's with sauté thin beef cuts.
