Pinakbet

Ingredients

• 200 g pork belly, smoked or grilled (liempo), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 medium bitter melon (ampalaya), halved lengthways, seeds removed, flesh scored and salted
• 2 medium eggplant, cut into 4 cm pieces
• 200 g pumpkin, peeled, cut into 3 cm cubes
• 150 g yard-long beans, cut into 5 cm lengths
• 100 g okra, trimmed, left whole or halved
• 2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp bagoong isda, fermented fish paste — not bagoong alamang
• 1 tsp fine salt, for drawing bitterness from the ampalaya only
• 60 ml water, added only if the pan threatens to dry before the vegetables are cooked through

Method

1. 1
   Score the cut surfaces of the bitter melon with shallow crosshatch cuts. Rub evenly with fine salt and set aside for ten minutes. Rinse briefly under cold water — do not soak — and pat dry. The melon should retain colour and a firm hand-feel; flesh that has collapsed or turned dull green has lost too much moisture.
2. 2
   Place the pork belly pieces in a cold, dry pan and set over medium heat. Render until the fat has run and the Maillard crust from the pre-grilling or smoking has begun to dissolve into the fat pooling in the pan. The pan will smell of wood smoke and caramelised pork. Remove the pork and reserve; leave the rendered fat in the pan.
3. 3
   Add the tomatoes to the rendered fat and cook, stirring, until they have collapsed and their liquid has reduced to a thick, fragrant paste coating the base of the pan. Stir in the bagoong isda. This is the seasoning base of the dish — it must not be augmented with additional salt. The paste will smell pungent, fermented, and deeply savoury; this is correct.
4. 4
   Return the pork to the pan. Add the pumpkin and eggplant, arranging them over the paste. Cover tightly and cook over medium-low heat. The vegetables cook in their own steam and the paste's liquid — no water is added at this stage. After five to seven minutes, the pumpkin will have begun to yield at its edges when pressed with a spoon.
5. 5
   Add the yard-long beans, pressing them into the vegetables already in the pan. Cover and cook for a further three to four minutes, until the beans are bright green and offer slight resistance when pressed — they must not go limp at this stage, as further cooking remains.
6. 6
   Add the bitter melon and okra. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until all vegetables have shrivelled and concentrated — the Ilocano 'pinakebbet' state — and the pan is moist but not soupy. This is where the dish lives or dies: sufficient heat and time are required for the vegetables to wilt and the flavours to unify around the bagoong isda, but excess liquid or excess time will produce a waterlogged stew without the concentrated savour that defines pinakbet. If the pan threatens to dry before the melon is cooked through, add no more than 60 ml of water. The finished dish should hold its shape when spooned; the liquid should be thick and cling to the vegetables.