Pinakbet 2 ways- Traditional and Ratatouille version

Pinakbet (pronounced peenak-bet) is a filipino dish containing a wide aray of exotic asian vegetables. The main base of the dish is typically eggplant, bitter melon, okra, string beans and squash sauteed with pork and shrimp paste. But like most filipino dishes, depending on which region your from or your families personal recipe, the choice of vegetables can change and it all depends whats in season or whats available to us at our local markets.

Like my previous posts, I will share the traditional way of cooking pinakbet and a different version. Since this is mainly a vegetable dish, the first thing that came to mind was ratatouille, a french recipe that is also mainly vegetables. After testing it out with pinakbet ingredients, it was a total success. And when my mom is impressed then I know its a success. I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know what you think. 

Substitutes: If your not accustomed to shrimp paste an alternative is fish sauce. Use the same amount of fish in the recipe. If fish sauce is also not to your liking, you can use regular salt. Adjust the salt to your liking. 

Instead of white sweet potato, just use regular potato, I wouldn't recommend the typical sweet potato since it doesn't have the same flavor profile as white sweet potato. 

In this recipe, string beans were substituted with french green beans. 

To make this dish vegetarian omit the pork rinds and shrimp. Although not sure if shrimp paste still counts as meat. 
  

Traditional Pinakbet

Ingredients

1 chinese eggplant
1 bitter melon
2 small white sweet potato
1 cup okra
1 cup green beans
2 small tomatoes
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1-2 tbsp shrimp paste
1/2 cup pork chicharon  
1/2 cup cooked shrimp

1. Slice the eggplant and bitter melon into 2 inch length batons. Make sure to remove the white flesh inside the bitter melon. To make the bitter melon less pungent, sprinkle with salt and let it sit for 10 mins then rinse. You can do the same with the eggplant, however chinese eggplant is quite sweet and I find it unnecessary.
2. Dice the sweet potato into large chunks.
3. Dice tomatoes and onions into small chunks. 
4. Finely mince the garlic.
5. Peel and de-vain shrimp
6. Gently crush the chicharon pieces
7. In a skillet or wok on medium high heat, add about a tbsp of oil. Once pan is hot add the garlic. Fry the garlic until golden brown and add the onions.
8. Once onion is soft add the tomatoes, fry for about 2 mins.
9. Add the shrimp paste and fry. 
10. Add the sweet potato since this will take longer to cook. Fry for about 2 mins.
11. Add the bitter melon, green beans, okra and eggplant. Add a bit of water and stir fry the vegetables until they are tender but not overcooked.
12. Add in the cooked shrimp and chicharon.

This dish can be your main dish or served a side. Growing up my sister and I weren't to fond of this dish, so my mom would serve this to us with fried pork chops. I remember only picking the vegetables I liked, which was the chicaron and shrimp lol. But now my taste buds have matured and I enjoy eating this dish on its own.

 Fancy Pinakbet

Ingredients

1 chinese eggplant
1 bitter melon
1 zucchini
2 small white sweet potato
1/2 cup green beans
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
2 small tomatoes
2 tbsp shrimp paste
1/2 cup chicharon
1/2 cup cooked shrimp

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Slice the eggplant, bitter melon, zucchini and sweet potato into 1/4 inch circles. Remember to remove the white flesh inside the bitter melon. As mentioned above, if you want to lessen the bitterness add some salt and rinse the bitter melon. Soak eggplant, sweet potato in water to avoid browning.
3. Dice the green beans, onions, tomatoes and shrimp.
4. Finely mince the garlic
5. Gently pound the chicharon
6. In a skillet or wok on medium high heat, add 1 tbsp oil. Once pan is hot add the garlic. Fry until golden brown then add the onion.
7. Once onions are soften, add the tomatoes. Fry for 2 mins then add the shrimp paste. Fry for 5 mins then set aside.
8. Add each vegetable onto a sheet pan creating a row of eggplant, bitter melon, zucchini and sweet potato. Add the onion, tomato, shrimp paste mixture on top of the vegetables and carefully coat the vegetables. Try not to break the vegetables. Save 1/4 cup of the onion, tomato mixture.
9. Take one slice of eggplant, bitter melon, zucchini and sweet potato. Layer it into a pan (circular or square). Continue to layer until all the vegetables have covered the bottom of the pan. 
10. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45-55 mins until sweet potato is tender.
11. With the remaining onion, tomato mixture, reheat pan and add the diced green beans. Once the beans are tender, add the cooked shrimp and chicharon. Once chicharon is soft, turn the heat off and set aside. 
12. When the vegetables are done cooking, top it off with the green bean, chicharon and shrmp. 

I guess you could say pinakbet is the filipino version of a ratatouille. This is such a fun way to serve pinakbet, definitely more work than the traditional way. If you want to impress your in laws (if they are filipino of course) you'll win some points if you serve this to them.