Regino Ojano III grew up in Hilo eating two Filipino dishes almost every week. He thinks of his grandfathers each time he cooks these comfort foods: a version of tinola, or chicken and squash soup, and pinakbet, or vegetable stew.

Now a Pearl City resident, the 37-year-old Ojano is a pastry cook at the Moana Surfrider hotel and former pastry chef at The Pig & the Lady and Piggy Smalls restaurants. But family and friends note his skill with savory dishes as well as sweet.

His mother, Sharleen, taught him the soup recipe that her late father, Charles Atiz, perfected. It’s a classic, with tender chicken, the sharp flavor of ginger, the sweetness of long squash (tabungao), the attractiveness of green marungay leaves and the surprise of boiled eggs.

“The best chicken is from a hen, but it usually was made from the ‘loser,’” Ojano jokes, referring to the bird at the losing end of a cockfight.

Both the soup and pinakbet start with sliced onions, chopped garlic and halved cherry tomatoes wilted in vegetable oil. Why cherry tomatoes and not the larger variety? “My family cooked with whatever was growing in the garden, and we always had cherry tomatoes.”

For the soup, fresh chicken was plucked and cut into pieces. A good amount of smashed ginger and cut green squash were cooked with the chicken and bay leaves. Peeled hard-cooked eggs were added in the end — at least three, or one for each person at the table.

A critical ingredient then and now is marungay leaves — as many as possible, meticulously plucked from their stems to create a beautiful and satisfying soup.

“If you aren’t careful, the small stems get in the soup, and they are tough. You need to look carefully and discard any blemished leaves,” Ojano says. “There is no fast way to pick the marungay leaves off the stems.”

Marungay trees grow throughout Hawaii, especially in Filipino neighborhoods. Other names for the tall tree include calamungay, moringa, horseradish, ben oil or drumstick tree. The long pods and dainty leaves are treasured in Filipino, Indian and some African cuisines.

“As kids, when we were naughty, my parents or grandparents would make us pick the marungay leaves for chicken squash soup,” says Ojano. “We would have to sit and carefully pick the leaves — forever.”

From his paternal grandfather, Regino Ojano Sr., called “Apo,” came the family formula for pinakbet.

To this day his 95-year-old grandfather always keeps a container of the vegetable stew in the refrigerator of his home in Hilo, ready to warm up. He uses dried shrimp and fermented fish sauce (patis) to flavor the many vegetables in this classic dish.

It seems every family has its own version, some using roasted pork (lechon) instead of shrimp. But there seems to be some agreement that pinakbet should have tomatoes, onions, kabocha squash, bitter melon, eggplant and some kind of bean. Most also include okra, but not the Ojano family’s.

“My father didn’t used to like okra, so my grandfather wouldn’t add that in,” Ojano says. “Really, it is just whatever you have from the garden. My Apo’s version would include long beans and wing beans, which are my favorite because they have a crunch.”

The process begins with onions, tomatoes, garlic and dried shrimp sauteed untl fragrant.

Then the water is added, and the remaining vegetables, from hardest to softest so that when the dish is finished, each vegetable is of the perfect texture.

Ojano recommends small bitter melons for the dish because he was taught they are less bitter. He slices them, seeds them using a spoon and cuts them again into quarters.

If any of the attractive wing beans are large, he slices them lengthwise so they are similar in size to the smaller ones.

Ojano’s recipe uses just a bit of the strong-flavored patis; he prefers the cloudy variety, not the clear sauce. A bit of soy sauce, salt and pepper round out the flavor. The simmering results in a flavorful, colorful dish where each vegetable keeps its personality and texture.

The Ojano family would serve both garden classics with lots of rice.

“APO” REGINO OJANO SR.’S PINAKBET (FILIPINO VEGETABLE STEW)

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 10 dried shrimp, soaked in water until soft
• 1 cup water
• Half a kabocha pumpkin (2-3 cups), cut into 1-inch cubes (peeled or unpeeled, your choice)
• 4 small bitter melons, seeded and quartered
• 3 long eggplants, prepared as directed in box below left
• 10 long beans, ends removed, cut in 3-inch pieces
• 10 wing beans, ends removed, sliced lengthwise if large
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons patis (fish sauce)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

>> Tip: Ojano follows his grandfather’s method of cutting eggplant that keeps it firm in the pinakbet. Grandpa Ojano didn’t like his eggplant mushy. First, he cuts off the top and bottom of the long Asian eggplant and slices it crosswise in two. Then he makes two long cuts to quarter the spongy flesh, but he stops about 1/2-inch from the end so the sauce can reach inside the eggplant but the pieces hold together.

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium and saute onion, tomatoes, garlic and shrimp for 5 minutes.

Add water and kabocha; cover and cook 10 minutes or until kabocha can be pierced with a fork.

Add bitter melon, eggplant and long beans; simmer 5 minutes.

Add wing beans and season with soy sauce, patis, salt and pepper. Simmer 3 more minutes. Serves 4-6.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 180 calories, 5 g total fat, no saturated fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 450 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, 9 g fiber, 11 g sugar, 8 g protein.

GRANDPA CHARLES ATIZ’S CHICKEN TABUNGAO SOUP WITH BOILED EGGS

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon garlic, roughly chopped
• 5-inch piece of ginger, peeled, sliced and smashed
• 5 small bay leaves
• 2-3 pounds bone-in chicken, cut into pieces, or thighs or drumsticks
• 5-6 cups water, enough to cover the chicken
• 4 pounds tabungao (long squash), peeled, seeded, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup marungay leaves (no stems)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3-6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium. Saute onions, tomatoes and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and bay leaves, stir another 3-5 minutes. Add chicken and water to cover; increase heat to high. When water just comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cover pot. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside, 15-20 minutes.

Skim oil from surface of soup. Add squash, cover pot and simmer 15 minutes.

Skim oil again. Add marungay leaves and season with soy sauce, salt and pepper. Simmer 10 more minutes.

Add eggs and simmer another 5 minutes. Serves 6.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving (based on 2.5 pounds chicken and 6 eggs): 340 calories, 14 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 300 mg cholesterol, 900 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 32 g protein.

Lynette Lo Tom, author of “The Chinese Kitchen,” is fascinated by old-fashioned food. Contact her at 275-3004 or via instagram at @brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.