Dinengdeng-My Version
Posted by Belle on 08 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Dinengdeng, food
An old friend of mine from college named Au recently introduced this wonderful and healthy dish during the recent get-together of our group in Manila. It is called Dinengdeng, Ilocos specialty ( I think). It is so easy to make and it’s main ingredients are vegetables. I am more of a veggie person so naturally I became interested in the dish and immediately emailed her to ask for the recipe. She responded right away and graciously shared the recipe with me.
This dish may look unappetizing for most of you but for me it is heavenly even though I overcooked the squash. I didn’t realize squash cooks faster but it somehow enhanced the sauce, making the dish taste even better. Believe it or not, I had it 4 days in a row
In my recipe of Dinendeng, I used spinach, opo, slices of ginger, tomatoes, yellow orange squash, and bitter melon (ampalaya). My friend Au doesn’t recommend adding ampalaya to the recipe but I thought I would try it anyway because I love it so much. To cut down the bitterness, I soaked the sliced ampalaya first in salty water for some time and it did the trick.
I ate this much four days in a row with only half a cup of rice. Who says half a cup of rice is not enough?
The dish below prepared by Au was the one I was trying to achieve. But for some reasons, mine came out quite a bit darker, probably due to the type of bagoong I used. Nevertheless, I am satisfied with its taste. I mainly gorged on the veggies.
Those who are interested, here is the recipe my friend sent me:

































