30/11/2023
WARNING!!! DO NOT PLANT THESE IN YOUR VEGGIE GARDEN!!!
I know many of us, Filipinos, especially, Ilokanos or Ilocanos, love cooking "pinakbet" and "dinengdeng". These two dishes are original and popular Ilocano recipes and one could not claim to be one if he/she does not know how to cook them. Pinakbet is a contracted form of the word "pinakebbet" which translates to the English term "shrunk" or "shriveled". It is a mixture of different kinds of vegetables most of which are included in the"Bahay Kubo" lyrics. All ingredients are mixed in a "tayab" or "banga", seasoned with "bagoong" and topped with fried fish or pork and cooked over low fire with little or no water. Then cooking oil is added when it is half-cooked then tossed to mix everything. As of this writing, I realized that this veggie, which is a pinakbet mainstay and a Filipino backyard garden commoner, did not make it to the song. I am talking about the incredible okra. Yes, that green, purple or white elongated slimy fruit veggie that belongs to the mallow family of plants and a cousin of cotton. This so-called "lady finger" vegetable is packed with nutrients good for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, visual, and dermal health. The internet is jampacked with these info if you try to search about it.
What's so frustrating about this plant when it starts to bear fruit is that it requires daily visit to harvest them while they are still tender. Miss a day or two and you'll be welcomed with tough, unconsumable fruits. The worst result of your absence is that some red stinkbugs may have infested the plant as they love to stay on the overaged fruits. So if you cannot spare a short daily trip to your veggie garden, better not plant okra.
Another veggie which is a "dinengdeng" mainstay is the squash flower. While the fruit is usually tossed with other veggies to make a yummy pinakbet dish, the flowers usually end up in "dinengdeng" and "pinablad". Dinengdeng is a stew version of the pinakbet minus the cooking oil. "Pinablad" is a contraction of the Ilocano word "pinabellad" which means "caused something to enlarge, swell or burst". Pinablad is a boiled beans soup usually made with dried mungbeans, cowpeas or white beans, stir-fried, usually with pork or chicken meat and mixed with leafy greens and edible veggie flowers. Squash is also a nutrient-rich vegetable all nutritionists and dieticians love to prescribe in meal plans. What's burdensome about squashes is that when they start to bear flowers and fruits, the gardener must make a daily visit, preferably early in the morning to pick the male flowers and hand-pollinate the female ones. A one-day absence in the garden would result in withered flowers and undeveloped fruits. So if you can't sacrifice a 30-minute daily visit to your garden, squash is a no-no addition to your veggie patch.
