Pinakbet is a hearty Filipino stew made of vegetables like squash, eggplant, string beans, okra, and many more. It’s traditionally seasoned with onions, garlic, and bagoong or shrimp paste but you could also use soy sauce. It has a nice savory taste that pairs well with a side of rice-make it brown rice or quinoa for a healthier version.
Pinakbet, or simply Pakbet, usually comes with tiny pieces of fried pork. You could easily veganize it by replacing the pork with fried tofu or tempeh.
Vegan Filipino: Pinakbet Stew
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons refined coconut oil (or your favorite cooking oil)
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed, and minced
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
- 1-2 pinches sea salt
- ½ small kabocha squash, peeled, deseeded, and chopped
- 1 cup water (or more if needed)
- 1 large Filipino eggplant, sliced
- ½ bunch long beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch length
- 8-10 pieces okra, ends and tops trimmed
- 1 block tempeh (about 8 ounces), steamed and cut into cubes
- 2-3 tablespoons black bean garlic sauce or 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat medium-sized pan over medium heat. When pan is hot enough, add coconut oil.
- Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Follow with onions. Saute until onions have softened and turned translucent. Sprinkle salt to speed up the process.
- Add squash and water. Cover pan and simmer until squash has softened.
- Using a separate pan, fry tempeh with oil until tempeh has turned brown on all sides. Turn off heat.
- Add eggplant, okra, and long beans to the pan of squash and water. Season with black bean garlic sauce or soy sauce.
- Place tempeh into the pan of vegetables and adjust seasoning to taste. Mix well and simmer until eggplant has softened.
- Turn off heat and serve hot, ideally with rice on the side.
Notes
Tempeh is available at most Asian grocery stores.
Thanks for veganizing this! My family version always sneaks in meat somehow and my husband’s always looking for purely vegetarian/vegan Filipino recipes. I offered Pinakbet as the closest thing I could find, and I can’t wait to try this version. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your story Kat! Yes please let me know how the recipe goes. I’m sorry about your family sneaking in meat. What worked for me was I never ask for them to cook for me unless they sincerely and truly want to. I also constantly cook big enough servings to share with my family so they don’t think I’m snubbing them.I hope that helps. Keep in touch! And oh, the bagoong is now ready for purchase (savorfilipino.com/store)
Just made this!!! So good.
Thank you for your version of pinakbet. There is nothing wrong with white rice. Brown rice contains more arsenic than white rice. What makes brown rice brown is that the bran and germ are still intact. The bran is what makes arsenic content in brown rice much higher and also what causes problems with people that lack the tolerance for gluten. Vitamin wise the bran does make it a little more nutritious but not by much. Also the bran and germ make brown rice difficult for the body to digest. Science has shown that countries that consume white rice regularly especially areas throughout Asia have very low instances of diabetes as compared to western countries.