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Pinakbet

A Filipino vegetable stew with bitter melon, sweet potato, eggplant, okra, and string beans flavored with bagoong.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sweet potato and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 165 recipes. Both carry damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Pinakbet

Time5 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Heat a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Add the oil to the pan.

  3. Add the garlic to the pan and sauté briefly until aromatic.

  4. Add the onion to the pan and cook until softened.

  5. Add the tomato, bagoong alamang, and salt to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.

Cook the vegetables

  1. Add the bitter melon and sweet potato to the pan, cover, and cook until almost, but not quite, tender.

  2. Add the string beans, eggplant, and okra to the pan, cover, and cook for a few minutes until all the vegetables are tender.

  3. Serve the vegetables with rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

654Calories
14 gProtein
15 gFat
121 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Okra1 cup (100g)33
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Melonnot in our table0
Beannot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sweet potato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Plum + melontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together54 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bagoong alamang
Provides the salty, savory fermented-shrimp flavour that defines the stew.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that help build the sauce around the vegetables.
Bitter melon
Contributes its characteristic bitter flavour, balanced by the savory base.
Sweet potato
Adds body and natural sweetness, and holds its shape during the simmer.
Eggplant
Softens into the sauce, adding creamy texture and absorbing flavour.
Okra
Releases mild thickening starch into the liquid as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cook the vegetables in stages. Vegetables differ in density, so adding the firm bitter melon and sweet potato first and the softer string beans, eggplant, and okra later keeps each at the right tenderness. Covering the pan traps steam so the vegetables cook through evenly.

Swap the melon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, clove, onion, plum, tomato, sweet potato, beans):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Melonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, clove, onion, plum, tomato, sweet potato, beans. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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