‘Talong’ fest shows how best to cook ‘pinakbet’

VILLASIS, Pangasinan – How does one cook the most delectable “pinakbet?”

Residents of this eggplant-producing town in eastern Pangasinan province have once again shown the many ways of cooking this popular Ilocano dish.

On Friday, the town’s 21 villages sent their best cooks to the town hall grounds to participate in the annual “Pinakbet sa Kawa,” a competition requiring participants to cook huge servings of pinakbet in large vats.

The event was one of the highlights of this year’s Talong (Eggplant) Festival. This town, called the “vegetable bowl” of Pangasinan, is the province’s leading producer of eggplants.

“There is no secret ingredient in cooking a delicious pinakbet,” said Sonia Pascua, head cook of a team from Barangay (village) Lomboy. “It’s all in the way you cook it.”

Pinakbet or “pakbet” is cooked with eggplant, okra, ampalaya, green pepper and tomato steamed in “bagoong” (salted fish paste).

For the contest, each participating village was given 30 kilograms of eggplant, 10 kg of ampalaya and tomato, 2 kg of green pepper and 4 kg of okra for the dish.

The participants were allowed to add their own ingredients to produce their versions of pinakbet.

For a tastier pinakbet, Pascua said she added “patani” seeds, “malunggay,” “kamote” and pork.

Barangay San Blas village head Marlon Olivar, an eggplant grower, used the round greenish eggplant variety instead of the long violet variety commonly grown in the town.

“This makes a better pinakbet,” he said. His team added a piece of fried pork to the vegetable mix.

Another team used squid instead of meat.

Amante Reyes, founder of United Ilocandia, a civic action group here, said pinakbet was best if only the four basic vegetable ingredients were used.

“You don’t cook it with water. You let the water from the eggplants and tomatoes cook it in slow fire and you’ll see, it really tastes good,” said Reyes. He cooks pinakbet for his family four times a week.

“Of course, you should not overcook it,” he said. “What they are cooking now here is the modified pinakbet … Or maybe pinakbet with a twist.”

Susan Costales, a council member of Barangay San Nicolas, said cooking a delicious pinakbet also needed “the right attitude.”

“You should smile as you put in the ampalaya so the pinakbet will not have a bitter taste,” she said.

“A delicious pinakbet is not produced by adding meat or other ingredients. It’s in the way you cook it. If you put cooking into your heart, then everything you cook will be good,” she added.

Willy Balbin-Michaels, a returning resident from Hawaii and one of the competition’s three judges, said a competing team in 2013 mixed the dish with “longganisa,” a locally home-made sausage-like meat product.

Mayor Libradita Abrenica said he was happy with the enthusiasm of residents here who took part in the celebration. “We want to promote our talong industry. We want to arrive at the best pinakbet recipe,” he said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon