Vegetarian recipes from the Philippines

In the Philippines the base is white rice, eaten at every meal, and coconut milk, which serves as both fat and cooking liquid. Garlic, onion, ginger and tomato make the most common sauce base; the sour note comes from cane vinegar or calamansi, the salt from soy sauce or a fermented paste. Vegetables hold their own place, with squash, aubergine, water spinach, okra and moringa stems. Ginataang kalabasa shows the coconut stew logic: soft squash, long beans, a sauce thickened by reduction rather than flour.

A meal pairs one saucy dish, one fried or grilled dish and one sour side that cuts the fat, all shared around rice. Vegetarian pinakbet gathers seasonal vegetables in a single pot, seasoned with fermented paste in place of the usual shrimp or pork. Ensaladang talong plays the sour part: aubergine charred over the flame, peeled, served cold with tomato, onion and vinegar. For crunch, crispy kangkong turns the leaves into fritters, and lumpiang gulay wrap grated vegetables in a thin sheet.