(Photo: Flickr.com by sigbin sightings) -- Ah, the taste of Pinakbet and my interminable craving.

Oh, how I crave for my grandma's Ilocano pinakbet (a Filipino food)…what a scrumptious dish it is!

Pinakbet or pakbet, meaning shrunk or shriveled, is a well-known Ilocano dish and my favorite because of the vast amount of nutrients from the assorted vegetables incorporated in this dish.

Its ingredients are the following:

Bagoong (anchovy-dilis or monamon)
Water
Onions (with antioxidant properties)
Tomatoes (contains lycopene, an antioxidant)
Ginger (rich in potassium, iron.. to name a few)
Eggplants (contains flavanoids which can help reduce the risk of heart disease)
Bitter melon or ampalaya (rich in iron)
Okra (rich in fiber)
Sitaw or long beans (rich in Vitamin A)
Green lima beans (rich in potassium)

Filipinos have come up with different styles of Pinakbet but the authentic Ilocano Pinakbet has fermented anchovy paste (bagoong monamon). Furthermore, the Ilocanos don't sauté the ingredients instead they boil water and then they add the onions and tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. That is according to my cousin who's a Pinakbet expert.