"If you are a good eater, for sure you are a good cook too!"lol! This is what I always say everytime they compliment my cooking skill. My mother influenced me in cooking because she was a good cook.She did not intentionally taught me how to cook but as I have said, I am a good eater that is why I learn how by the taste of what I eat. So here it is, the First recipe I'll be sharing to you is my own kind of Diningding.

The Ingredients

The vegetable in "pakbet" is same ingredient with "diningding" like :

Ampalaya, eggplant, okra, squash tomato, string bean, pork and "bagoong na isda".

Pakbet - Filipino term for vegetable menu

Bagoong isda - Filipino term for fermented fish

The Procedure

• Cut all the vegetables into same sizes or shape whatever way you want as long as it will look presentable or attractive when you eat. Same with the pork cut it as the size of the vegetables.

• Put salt to pork to taste, don't add soy sauce or any seasoning.Salt is enough, mix it well and set a side.

• Preheat a water ( estimate the water that could only cook all the vegetable. This is not a soup menu) put all the vegetables altogether add tomatoes with a generous amount to give taste.

• While waiting for the vegetables to cooks, deep fry the pork in a separate pan. Wait until golden brown, the crispier the pork, the better.

• Drain the fried pork and add it into the vegetables.Simmer it, don't keep on mixing the vegetables while boiling to avoid the amplaya's bitterness to taste more bitter.

• When the vegetable is totally cooked, add a pinch of salt and seasonings.

• Scoop for about 2 tablespoons of " bagoong isda" put it in a separate cup add a little amount of water and stir to separate the sauce from the fish flesh and bones.Drain to get the water and put in the boiling vegetables.

• Simmer it for 3 minutes and check the taste.

• Then ready to serve.

You have now "diningding" for your meal. The best partner for it is the fried or grilled fish or pork belly with spicy dip..Yum! Yum!

I hope that this recipe can help you in your menu plans. Making a menu plans is hard for mothers. They think menu that suits their budget but quality and healthier one.

My dear readers, everytime you eat please compliment your cook.It's not that easy to think what to cook with a tight budget.

Enjoy your meal!!

My Closing Thought

When cooking, it does not always require a recipe, you can personalize it according to your taste and budget. Vegetables nowadays are expensive but if you know how to cook, you can modify your menu. Always plan your menu that fit with your budget and buy your kitchen stuff in the wet market with a lists to save excess in vegetables and spice. Remember that vegetables are perishable and costly.

Mothers should know how to cook and teach you child to do it too.

In my article about " spending my 7 days a week" I mentioned there the everyday cooking and this menu was cooked yesterday.

More recipes to go!!Thank you for reading and have a healthy meal always.

-Keekay

Pictures are my own captures while cooking

Published date : August 25, 2021