Ginataang Labong sa Alimango

Bamboo Shoots and Crab cooked in Coconut Milk

Our neighborhood magugulay (vegetable vendor) drops by twice or thrice a week.  Yesterday he had fresh bamboo shoots - already boiled and sliced!  As he says - ready-to-cook labong... 

Although he said he had already boiled them, we boiled them again, in rice washing water until it was tender (but still crunchy!!!).  Then came the question on how to cook them.  Another lively debate... Lola liked them with saluyot (jute leaves in English), A-te likes gata (cooked in coconut milk) and hubby wanted a piece of crab (and no saluyot)!  Well, majority (read as:  hubby the boss) wins and the shoots were cooked in coconut milk with crab!

about 700 grams  labong or bamboo shoots, boiled
and drained
1 small crab (about 350 grams by weight), cleaned and chopped into serving pieces, or use talangka (small shore crabs)
5 to 7 thin slices of  ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cups thick coconut milk
2 to 3 pieces siling labuyo (bird's eye chili)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute ginger, garlic and onion until fragrant.  Add the crab and stir-fry briefly.  Pour in the coconut milk; when the coconut milk is hot (not boiling), add the labong.  Throw in the chilis and season to taste with salt and pepper (I used about 3 large pinches of sea salt).  Let the misture simmer, stirring occasionally.  Recheck the seasonings and when done, serve immediately!  This dish is perfect as rice topping!

Ginataang Manok, Kalabasa at Malunggay

(Chicken, Squash and Moringa leaves cooked in Coconut Cream)

Nobody ever believes me when I say that there are days when I (definitely) do not want to cook.  And, even when they understand that I have no-cook days, they certainly don't believe that I sometimes take out food from a turo-turo (literally point-point, referring to a small eatery where the customer simply points to the already cooked food to indicate his choice).

This is one of those dishes that I first encountered in a turo-turo...  and I loved it!

I've tried to recreate it a couple of times but failed - somehow the flavor profile had always been wrong.  Until someone gave me the brilliant idea of using patis (fish sauce).  Ok, this is a dish that I would never, ever had succeeded at considering the patis ban in my kitchen.  But having authentic Thai patis is an exception!  It turns out the secret to the dish is the patis!

3 thin slices of ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium Spanish onion, sliced thinly
800 grams chicken legs, rinsed and cleaned
1 cup coconut cream
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 wedge of kalabasa (about 1/8 of a big one or 1/4 of a medium one), peeled and cubed
2 teaspoons patis/fish sauce, or to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
handful of malunggay leaves (Moringa)

Saute the ginger, garlic and onion until fragrant.  Put in the chicken to brown; season with a large pinch of sea salt.  When the chicken is lightly browned, pour in the coconut cream and stock.  When the mixture boils, add the cubed kalabasa.  Season to taste with patis, sea salt and pepper.  Simmer until the chicken and kalabasa are almost done (I like it when a bit of the kalabasa melts into the sauce).  Throw in the malunggay and let simmer a couple of minutes more.  Serve hot over rice!

Ginataang Puso ng Saging

Puso ng Saging is literally translated into "heart of the banana".  But it's called banana blossom or bud.  To be honest, though, I haven't seen this on a banana tree/plant.

It's easy enough to cook, in my most favorite way - ginataan or in coconut cream/milk.  What I do not like is the preparation of the puso ng saging itself.  All the "hard" work in preparing, however, is well worth it when the final dish is eaten!

1 large puso ng saging

100 grams shrimp
4 thin slices of ginger
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 pieces siling haba/pangsigang (finger chili)
1-1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut cream
salt and pepper, to taste

First, prepare the puso ng saging.  Get ready with a big bowl of water with salt.  Remove the tough outer layers (and anything else that hangs on).  Slice the puso ng saging in half, lengthwise, then slice crosswise to get thin strips.  Place the the strips in the salt-water and soak for a while.  When ready to cook, squeeze the strips dry.

Saute the ginger, onion and garlic.  Add the shrimp and stir fry until the shrimp is pinkish.  Add the coconut milk and siling haba.  Put in the puso ng saging.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Let the mixture boil (the puso ng saging cooks rather fast) then add the coconut cream.  Adjust seasonings.  Let the mixture come to a boil before serving.

Ginataang Talbos ng Sayote

The vegetable sayote is one of my favorite vegetables, but its talbos (vegetable top leaves) was not known to me before.  In fact, I only knew of it when Tita S served us a salad using talbos ng sayote (sayote tops/top leaves).  We liked it so much that we've made our version of talbos ng sayote salad many times.

The other day we found really fresh talbos ng sayote and thought of buying a kilo.  But the tindera (sales lady) offered us 3 kilos (her whole stock) at a "buy 2, get 1 free" scheme.  At first I objected, saying we couldn't possibly consume 3 kilos as a salad, to which she replied "Ha?  Salad lang ang luto ninyo?  Maraming luto na masarap itong talbos ng sayote!"  (What?  You only "cook" it as salad?  There are many delicious ways to cook sayote tops!)  Of course I asked how else they were cooked?

The tindera said that the best and most delicious was ginataan (cooked in coconut milk/cream) and she proceeded to tell me how...

First pick the leaves, shoots and soft stems, discard the tough stems.  Rinse to remove any dirt.  Saute ginger, onions and garlic.  Add some ground meat and shrimp (or rehydrated hebi/dried shrimp).  Add thin coconut milk then add the sayote tops then a couple of pinches of sea salt over the sayote tops (this is the secret method, she said).  The coconut milk should be enough so that when the sayote tops shrink (as they cook) they will be submerged in coconut milk (so add more coconut milk if needed).  Season to taste (I added dried chili).  When the sayote tops are nearly cooked, add thick coconut cream (check seasonings) and let it simmer until thick.

She also said the sayote tops can be sauteed simply with garlic, or for a special touch, with inihaw na liempo (roasted pork belly) or it can be added to pakbet (a northern mixed vegetable dish cooked in bagoong na isda or fermented fish paste/sauce).

In short, I bought the whole lot.

We plan to cook another kilo as ginisa with liempo (sauteed with roast port belly).  For the third and last kilo, we plan to use half in a salad and the other half to add to a pakbet dish (as she suggested!)

Whew!

Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw

Ginataan is a Filipino cooking term that means to cook in coconut milk.  So Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw is Squash (kalabasa) and long beans or pole beans (sitaw) cooked in coconut milk.  Like adobo, there's a myriad of ways to cook this dish - spicy, sweet, salty, with a whole new cast of vegetables, with shrimps, talangka, crabs, dried fish (daing) or with pork.  It can even be a sweet dessert stuffed with rice balls, bananas, yams, taro, sweet potato, langka... the list is practically endless!  

In our household, this dish is a favorite such that it's on the table at least once a month!  And while the standard is always with some shrimp and ground pork, sometimes we vary the dish depending on our particular mood.  The more interesting twists that we've made with this dish was with talangka (small crab, which someone said to be shore crab) and with squash blossoms.

This time, however, we made the dish a little more special by  adding bagoong alamang (shrimp paste in English).  But the bagoong I used is no ordinary shrimp paste!  It's the one made by friend M's mom!  In our humble opinion, it is ABSOLUTELY the best one! 

The bagoong is used a seasoning and it brings out a different dimension to the dish - a nice contrast of salty to the sweet coconut milk.  And it is sooooo goooood!!!  Believe it or not, I actually ate the whole dish (see the picture above) all by myself!  Yummmm!

The recipe -

3 pieces thinly sliced ginger
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
pinch of chili flakes
2 tablespoons bagoong
100 grams ground or thinly sliced pork
100 grams shrimp, cleaned, deveined
about 200 to 300 grams squash, skins removed and cubed
about 200 grams long beans (sitaw), cut into 2-inch lengths
2 bundles bulaklak ng kalabasa (squash blooms), cleaned
1 1/2 to 2 cups coconut milk
1/2 to 1 cup coconut cream
salt and pepper, to taste

Saute ginger until lightly browned.  Add garlic and onion and stir fry a few seconds.  Sprinkle in the chili flakes and bagoong.  Add the pork and stir fry until halfway done.  Throw in the shrimp, squash cubes and beans.  Stir fry several seconds.   Pour in coconut milk and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the cut of the squash.  It may take as along as 20 to 30 minutes.  Add the squash blooms.  When the mixture boils, add the coconut cream and bring to boil again.  Then season with salt and pepper.  Remove from fire.  Serve while hot.

Note - the measures are a bit variable depending on personal preference.  We prefer a dish with a lot of thick sauce (to pour over rice! Mmmm...) so we use the larger measure.  Some people prefer a really thickened, almost no sauce dish, in which case use the lesser measure and cook until the sauce has totally reduced, but note that too long a cooking time may result in the coconut milk/cream to exude its oil (we know someone who prefers that as well!).  Take care also that the squash does not get too overcooked that it crumbles and disappears in the sauce.  Personally, we no longer add salt when we use the bagoong, but this may depend on the bagoong as they are not created equal - some bagoong are saltier than others, and there are sweet and/or spicy variants.