One of the things we can be proud of in Filipino cuisine, other than the exquisite taste of our dishes, is our ability to make the most of our ingredients. You don’t have to use sophisticated, expensive food to make a great dish come together in the Philippines. The likes of Ginisang Pechay shows us just how easy and simple it can be to come up with an appetizing, filling, and truly nourishing dish!
What is Ginisang Pechay?
Pechay or cabbage is a pretty common component in Pinoy recipes. It matches meat dishes incredibly well, and can really spruce up a soup as well. But given the opportunity to shine, cabbage is an ingredient that can stand out with the right set of seasonings. But what I love about Ginisang Pechay is how most of the ingredients we use are incredibly accessible. This includes soy sauce, onions, garlic, and tomatoes.
And the steps should be no problem either for most cooks, even beginners. That’s because we will just add our components in a certain order, and cook them in a given amount of time. This is a dish I would really recommend trying even if you are in a rush, or are just taking baby steps towards cooking!
Ginisang Pechay Ingredients
We can kick things off by gathering the components for our Ginisang Pechay. Start with 3 bunches of pechay that you’ve chopped, 4 ounces of ground pork, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.
Then we should also dice 2 tomatoes, chop 1 onion, and mince 4 cloves of garlic. And gather 1 cup of water, 3 tablespoons of cooking oil, and salt and ground black pepper. For the last two ingredients, the amount would depend on how much you would like to put in your dish.
Now that we’re all set with our ingredients, we can start cooking!
How to Make Ginisang Pechay
1. Cooking the garlic, onion and tomato
First, get your oil, and pour this into a pan. Add your garlic, onion, and tomato then just sauté all of these.
2. Sautéing the pork
For this step, we can put the ground pork inside the pan too. Keep sautéing all of your ingredients but just until the meat becomes brown.
This is also the time to add the soy sauce and oyster sauce. By the way, I am using Chinese soy sauce for this recipe. You may used the brewed variety if this is your only option.
3. Adding the water
Pour ¾ cup of water into your pan, and then cover this. We will just cook everything until the water evaporates entirely. Note that the recipe calls for 1 cup water. the remaining 1/4 cup will be added toward the end of the cooking process.
4. Adding the pak choy and seasonings
We can finally toss in the greens! Just add your pechay, and sauté this for 1 minute. Afterwards, you may add your remaining water. Then sprinkle in salt and ground black pepper to taste. You may wait for everything to cook for 2 minutes more.
How to Serve Ginisang Pechay
And voila! We’ve now got ourselves some perfectly savory Ginisang Pechay, and in just a few steps! All that’s left is for us to transfer this to a serving plate or bowl. For me and for most Filipinos, the best way to eat this would be with some freshly cooked rice. Whether this is brown or white– any kind you prefer would do.
Since we already have plenty of protein, fiber, and plenty of vitamins and minerals in our Ginisang Pechay, it’s safe to say that this would be a great meal in itself. But if you are catering to a lot of people, it would also be good to prepare other dishes. You may now be asking– what food would match this one nicely?
If you want to make this an even heartier and rich meal, serving something meaty like oven-baked chicken would be perfect alongside this pechay dish. You may also try this with fried seafood such as tilapia. Sarciadong isda is another fitting recipe with our Ginisang Pechay as both are healthy, and have a bit of a stew to them.
How to Store Ginisang Pechay
Made just a bit more than you could eat? That’s alright because we may just refrigerate this to get it to last for two more days. That being said, you can simply transfer the food to your airtight container. Then place this in your refrigerator. Just make sure to reheat using your pan and stove before eating this again so that you can enjoy it at its best– piping hot!
Didn’t find the recipe you wanted? Just leave your feedback, as well as recipe requests, in the comments. I will do my best to get to them, and give you more dishes you could try out from the comfort of your own home!
Ingredients
- 3 bunches pechay, see notes
- 4 ounces ground pork, see notes
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 pieces tomato, see notes
- 1 piece onion , see notes
- 4 cloves garlic , see notes
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan. Sauté garlic, onion, and tomato.1 piece onion , 4 cloves garlic , 2 pieces tomato
- Add the ground pork. Continue to sauté until color turns light brown.4 ounces ground pork
- Pour-in soy sauce and add the oyster sauce. Stir.1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- Add 3/4 cup water. Cover the pan. Continue cooking until the water evaporates completely.1 cup water
- Add the pechay. Sauté for 1 minute.3 bunches pechay
- Pour remaining water and season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.1 cup water, Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- Serve with rice. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Pechay – While pak choy is the main ingredient for this recipe, there are plenty of substitutes if this ingredient is not available. You can use bok choy, Napa cabbage, and regular cabbage as substitutes.
- Ground pork – This can be an optional ingredient if you don’t feel like having meat in your dish. You may also use the following as substitutes: tofu, ground chicken, ground beef, and ground turkey.
- Tomato – Ripe tomatoes are best. I used plum tomatoes for this recipe, but feel free to use any kind. Simply dice these or you can slice it into wedges,
- Onion – I like using sweet onion varieties when sauteeing. This was the reason why I chose yellow onion. However, feel free to use white or red onion varieties – or even shallots. Mince, chop, dice – it does not matter.
- Garlic – This is an essential ingredient that brings aroma to the dish. Simply mince it or use a garlic press. I don’t recommend using garlic paste as it can cause the oil to splatter when sauteed.
Nutrition Information
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