{"id":207218,"date":"2024-12-03T16:49:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T02:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=207218"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:43:28","slug":"uh-mazing-recipes-pinakbet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/12\/03\/uh-mazing-recipes-pinakbet\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr>-mazing Recipes: Pinakbet"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Left:
Right: Tori Hiro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The holiday season is here, and UH<\/abbr> News is asking members of the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> ʻohana to share their favorite recipes<\/a>. The hope is these recipes and the short stories that accompany them will give everyone some ideas for eats throughout the holidays along with some good feelings of the season.<\/em><\/p>\n

Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community College\u2019s Tori Hiro, a culinary program instructor who was featured at “A Taste of Hilo” in October, shared her family\u2019s recipe for the traditional Filipino dish: pinakbet.<\/p>\n

Hiro said, “During the holidays our family never cooked the traditional holiday meals. We always prepared Filipino food—it’s our comfort food!”<\/p>\n

The stew made from pork and a mix of local vegetables, such as squash, pumpkin, eggplant, okra, yard-long beans (otong<\/em>), and bitter melon, is distinctly flavored with bagoong<\/em> (a condiment made from salted and fermented seafood).<\/p>\n

“This was one of the first dishes my apo (grandfather) taught me how to cook using vegetables grown in their backyard in Laup\u0101hoehoe,” Hiro said.<\/p>\n

Pinakbet<\/h2>\n

Prep Time: 10 minutes

\nCook Time: 20–30 minutes
\nTotal Time: 45–50 minutes
\nServings: 8<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • 3 tablespoons oil<\/li>\n
  • 1 pound pork belly – cut into strips<\/li>\n
  • 4 small onions – julienned<\/li>\n
  • 10 cloves garlic – minced<\/li>\n
  • 2 5-inch pieces of ginger peeled and smashed<\/li>\n
  • 4–6 tablespoons bagoong<\/em> (add more to taste if needed)<\/li>\n
  • 6 medium tomatoes – julienned<\/li>\n
  • 1 small squash (tabungao or togan) – peeled and cut into 1 ½-inch cubes<\/li>\n
  • 2 cups chicken broth<\/li>\n
  • 1 tablespoon shrimp dashi powder<\/li>\n
  • 10 young okras – ends trimmed, cut into halves diagonally<\/li>\n
  • 2 bunches yard-long beans (otong – ends trimmed and cut into 3-inch lengths<\/li>\n
  • 6 medium bitter melon – seeded then halved and cut into ½-inch slices<\/li>\n
  • 4 large eggplant – ends trimmed and cut into oblique cuts<\/li>\n
  • 1 karabasa (pumpkin) – peeled, seeded and cut into 1 ½-inch cubes<\/li>\n
  • Cornstarch slurry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Instructions<\/p>\n

    In a pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook until browned and fat rendered.<\/p>\n

    Lower heat to medium and add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook until pork is tender and aromatic.<\/p>\n

    Add tomatoes and cook for about 3–5 minutes or until it becomes soft and the skins peel off the flesh.<\/p>\n

    Add bagoong<\/em> and continue to cook for about a minute.<\/p>\n

    Add squash, chicken broth and shrimp dashi. Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.<\/p>\n

    Add yard-long beans (otong<\/em>), karabasa<\/em>, bitter melon and eggplant. Season with more bagoong<\/em> if needed. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the okra and cook for another 2 minutes or until vegetables are tender yet still a bit crisp.<\/p>\n

    Taste the sauce and add more bagoong or shrimp dashi to taste.<\/p>\n

    Thicken Pinakbet with a cornstarch slurry at the end. Thicken sauce to your desired thickness to tighten up the sauce so the vegetables are well coated when serving.<\/p>\n

    Transfer to a serving plate and serve with rice (inapoy<\/em>).<\/p>\n

    Mangan tayon<\/em>! (Let\u2019s eat!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community College\u2019s Tori Hiro shares her family\u2019s recipe for the traditional Filipino dish: pinakbet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[184,61,62,63,64,65,71,14,1571,9,60,947,59,66],"class_list":["post-207218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-culinary","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-holiday-recipes","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t