Filipino Food Store » coconut milk

Pinangat

Hilda — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:04:20 +0000

Pinangat is a filipino dish which originated in Bicol region, the land of chilies, coconut and gabi. Although more popularly for Manilenos this is called Laing. Pinangat is a nice blend of gabi leaves tied with coconut leaves and simmered in coconut cream. Try this bicol version and you will love this!

Ingredients:

about 7 to 10 fresh gabi leaves (depending on the number of your guests count 1 to 2 leaves per person)

*never wash your leaves just wipe them to clean them

about one kilo of sliced gabi leaves, stalks and gabi root

about half a kilo of ground pork

1 tablesoon of bagoong (shrimp paste)

1 big onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic pounded

some chilies

1 cup of coconut milk

half a cup of coconut cream (kakang gata)

Procedure:

In a bowl mix well your ground pork, bagoong, chopped onion, garlic, chilies and sliced gabi leaves, stalks and gabi. Pour a quarter of your coconut milk. Get one leaf and put about 2 to 3 tablespoons of your mixture in the middle of the leaf. Close the leaf outwards going inwards to be able to come up with a small package like. Tie them with coconut leaves or simply kitchen threads we use for cooking (tying chicken legs when roasting chicken, etc). Put in a deep casserole your small gabi packages. Pour your coconut milk and let it simmer slowly over medium fire. Add your coconut cream and let it continue simmering. It is done when you sauce becomes thick and coconut oil starts to come out.

Kuhol sa gata (Snails in coconut milk)

Hilda — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:00:38 +0000

When we were kids we used to visit our grandmother’s place in the province where we often spent our best vacation ever. Our activities included catching grasshoppers, dragonflies, gathering fruits, flowers and best of all snails. I know this is one specialty thats kinda special, afterall they are snails.

Kuhol sa gata

Ingredients:

about a kilo of Kuhol (you can use any type of snails available in the market)

one bundle of kangkong, cut in pieces

one onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 thumbsize ginger pounded

1 cup of coconut milk

2 tablespoons of bangoong (shrimp paste)

Procedure:

In a casserole put some cooking oil then sauté the ginger, garlic and onions. Add the bagoong and continue stirring. Put the snails and pour in half of the coconut milk. Cover and let it boil for about twenty minutes. Add the kangkong leaves and stalks and the rest of the coconut milk and simmer slowly until the sauce thickens.

Tilapia in Coconut Milk (Ginataang Tilapia)

Hilda — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:18:55 +0000

Tilapia is one of the popular freshwater fishes consumed in the Philippines. There are various ways of cooking them and this is one of my grandmother’s specialty.

Tilapia in Coconut Milk (Ginataang Tilapia)

Ingredients:

4 pieces of tilapia medium sized. Cleaned and inners removed.

ginger about a thumb sized pounded

2 cloves of garlic, pounded

1 onion sliced

2 pieces of long green chili (siling haba)

1 cup of coconut milk

1 bundle of pechay, cleaned and cut in serving portions

some cooking oil

Procedure:

Start by sauteing the garlic, onion and ginger with the cooking oil. Pour half of the coconut cream, put the vegetables then the tilapia and cover. Simmer it over medium fire. As soon as the vegetables have wilted and the sauce starts to thicken add the remaining coconut milk, the chili and a lit bit of salt to taste. Serve hot with rice.

Ginataaang Sugpo sa Pinya

Hilda — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:23:35 +0000

I had this wonderful experience to visit my friends in Bicol. And when we talk about Bicol we cannot avoid talking about Bicol specialties such as Bicol express and Laing. My friend shared me this delicious recipe of prawn with coconut milk, pineapple and some curry really delicious!

Ginataang Sugpo sa Pinya (Prawn Pineapple Curry)
for 2 personnes

Ingredients:
8 pcs of tiger prawns (about 4 pcs per serving)
1 eggplant cut in cubes
half a cup of fresh pineapple
3 tbsp of pineapple juice
1 tbsp of green curry paste
4 tbsp of olive oil
2-3 chilis
1 tbsp of curcuma
one cup of coconut milk

In a wok fry rapidly the eggplant with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Reserve the eggplant. In the same wok, put the remaining olive oil and add the green curry paste and curcuma. Pour the coconut milk and simmer over low fire. At the first boil add the pineapple, the pineapple juice, the chilis and prawns. Cook for about 3 more minutes. Season it with some fish sauce. Add the fried eggplant and turn off the fire.

Ginataang Tulingan

Hilda — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:59:32 +0000

Ingredients:

1 kilo of tulingan (you can replace this with tuna fish)

1 cup of coconut cream

1 onion sliced

1 ginger grated about 1 tablespoon

3 cloves of garlic pounded

zeste of one lime or dayap

3 pieces of eggplant cut in serving portion

1 cup of string beans cut in about 5 inches long

2 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

2 siling haba (long green chili)

some cooking oil

1/4 cup of water

Procedure:

Start by bleaning your fish. You can use one big tulingan sliced or about ten pieces of small one. Remove the gills and intestines. Wash it with clean running water and put some salt on it. In a casserole start by sauteing the ginger , garlic and onion with some hot oil. Pour your coconut milk and cover it. At the first boil, add the fish and vegetables. Simmer it gently cover for another ten minutes. Add your patis or fish sauce to correct the taste. Put the siling haba and cut the fire.

Ginataang Halo-halo

Hilda — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:48:51 +0000

Ingredients:

1 cup of galapong (rice flour mixed with water)

3 pieces of pandan leaves

1 cup of camote (sweet potato) peeled and cut in cubes

half a cup of shreaded langka (jackfruit)

1 cup of bananas (saba) peeled and cut about 1 cm thickness

1 cup of gabi (taro) peeled and cut in cubes

half a cup of ube (violet yam) peeled cut in cubes

2 cups of coconut milk

1 cup of white sugar

Procedure:

This dessert is very easy to do. Start by forming by forming small balls with the use of your palm the galapong: about marble size. Then in a deep casserole pour your coconut milk and sugar. Mix them well. Put all your ingredients except the galapong balls: bananas, sweet potatoes, gabi, ube, langka and pandan leaves. Cover it and turn on the fire. Simmer this for about thirty minutes. Check the tenderness of your ingredients using a fork. Lower the fire and continue simmering for another ten minutes and add your galapong balls. You can put some violet food coloring if you want.

Sapin-sapin

Hilda — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:24:41 +0000

No fiesta in our family passes by without this delicious filipino kakanin dessert. This is my auntie’s famous sapin sapin recipe. And of course she used to sell them on the street when she was still young.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 Cups of rice flour
1 Cup of white sugar
2 Cups of coconut milk
food coloring (green, yellow and purple) or any color you may wish
1 cup of finely chopped fresh buko (or macapuno preserve if fresh coconut is not available)
pandan leaves (if not you can use pandan extract)
1 cup of crushed cooked ube
½ Cup of chopped langka or jackfruit
½ tsp anise extract
some banana leaves

Procedure:

In a bowl mix your flour, with your sugar and coconut milk. Mix them until it becomes homogenous. Line your round pan (preferably about 9 inches in size) with your banana leaves. Divide your flour mixture into three portions. Add the langka flavor and yellow coloring on the first, the ube and purple coloring for the second and coconut and green coloring for the last one. Preheat your steamer for about five minutes. Pour the yellow color first on your round pan and let it steam for fifteen minutes. Then add the langka flavor over the first layer and steam it for fifteen minutes. Lastly pour the purple color and steam for another fifteen minutes. Let it cool before removing from the pan. Serve with toasted shreaded coconut and some sugar.

Mango Ginumis

Hilda — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:22:24 +0000

Philippines is highly known for their mangoes. They are sweet and golden. Perfectly eaten fresh or we can make them in any dessert. Ginumis is one of my favorite filipino dessert where fresh sweet mango is perfectly blended with coconut milk.

Ingredients:

3 ripe mangoes

1 cup of coconut milk

1 cup of cooked sweetened sago (tapioca)

2 pandan leaves (you can replace this with vanilla pods or vanilla essence)

4 tablespoons of sugar (you can replace this with honey)

you can also add other spices like cinnamon, cardamom or anis for this recipe

Procedure:

Start by peeling the mangoes and cutting its meat in small cubes. Set it aside. In a pan, pour the coconut milk, put the pandan leaves and 4 table spoon of sugar. Let it boil. Then turn off the fire immediately. Choose a beautiful and presentable glasses for this dessert. Start by putting a layer of sweetened tapioca (sago) and followed by a layer of sliced mangoes. Pour your coconut milk. Let it stand in the fridge for minimum of one hour.

Chicken Curry

Hilda — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:22:26 +0000

Curry is a delicious dish that’s very international. Although India has popularized it, almost each nation have their own version of this dish. Japanese curry is dark and sweet, Thai’s could be green, yellow or red that’s characterized by its spicyness. Pinoy curry is less aggressive compared to other curries but I just love it the way it is.

Ingredients:

1 kilo of chicken cut in serving portion

1 tablespoon of curry powder

3 cloves of garlic

1 onion sliced

1 small ginger sliced

1 red bell pepper cut in cubes

1 carrot peeled and cut in cubes

half a cup of potato peeled and cut in cubes

2 eggplants sliced (you can soak them in water to avoid discoloration)

2 bay leaves (laurel leaves)

half a cup of kakang gata (coconut cream)

half a cup of coconut milk

Procedure:

Always start by heating the saucepan. Pour the cooking oil, fry the chicken. You dont need to cook them we are just sealing the juice and we want some discoloration. As soon as the color turn light brown you can already take them out from the pan. You can add more oil if necessary, then fry the eggplants. Be sure to squeeze the water and juice of the eggplant before putting it in the pan. Cook them well on all sides, then take them off from the pan. Add the ginger and garlic. As soon as the beautiful odor comes out put the onion, bell pepper, potato and carrots. Put back the chicken and stir. Sprinkle the curry powder and add the bay leaves. Sautéing the ingredients dry with the curry increases the flavor. Always add your herbes before adding your water or any liquid for that matter. Pour your coconut milk. Let it simmer covered over medium fire, about fifteen to twenty minutes. As soon as the chicken and the vegetables have become soft and tender you can pour now the coconut cream. Put salt to taste. Cover and simmer for a couple of minutes. Before finally finishing off the cooking, add the fried eggplant and put back the cover. Turn off the heat. You can add siling labuyo (hot chili pepper) to you curry if you want it spicy. You can also put some pineapple chunks on your chicken curry to add a little bit of sweetness.

You can also try Shrimp Curry in pineapple

Extracting Coconut milk

Hilda — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:41:26 +0000

I just bought a fresh coconut. How do I get the coconut milk out of it. Best Filipino dishes always come with coconut milk. The use of coconut milk is everywhere; from savory dishes to sweet desserts. In Philippines it is common to find fresh coconut in the market. They are normally sold in the area where you buy the ingredients for making other Filipino desserts popularly called kakanin; like banana leaves, glutinous rice, sago, gulaman and panutsa. When you buy them it is preferable you choose the big and the heavy ones. They will grate the meat for you for free. Most are using machine to do this task but they were normally grated by hand using a kudkuran. Lucky for most that ready to use coconut milk in tetra packs or can exist already. It is much simpler but of course the taste of fresh coconut milk is always the best.

Ingredients:

grated meat from 2 coconut milk

one cup of hot water

and your clean hands

Procedure:

Start by preparing a clean piece of cloth that you will use as a strainer. In a deep bowl put the grated coconut meat and add half a cup of hot water. Then with your hands work on to make the milk comes out. But you need to be careful as the water is hot. Squeeze the milk out as if you are squeezing your shirt to dry it. Once all the coconut milk have been extracted, strain the milk with the clean cloth and pour it over a pitcher. Squeeze the cloth to get all the milk resting in the strainer. This is the coconut cream “kakang gata”, this is thicker and normally added during the last part of the cooking. Put back all the coconut milk in the bowl and pour the rest of the water. Do the same procedure to extract the rest of the milk. This will be the coconut milk. This is lighter in color and in texture. This is normally added at the start of your cooking process.

Laing

Hilda — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:52:23 +0000

I have learned this laing version to our Bicolano neighbor. I assure you this is the real thing.

Ingredients:

half a kilo of Gabi leaves (if they are too fresh you need to dry them up after tearing them)

half a kilo of gabi stems (take off the skin with the aid of knife)

* Saying goes to avoid scratching any part of your body while preparing this dish if you don’t want your laing to be itchy in your mouth.

milk from 2 coconut (if you cannot find fresh coconut you can replace it with one pack of coconut milk and one pack of coconut cream)

2 dried fish (you can use bisugo or labahita) you can also use dilis if you want

1/4 kilo pork belly cut in cube

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 onion sliced

1 tbsp of grated ginger

salt & pepper

2 siling haba (jalapeno)

3-4 siling labuyo (chili)

*this Laing version is more for a day to day meal. You can add seafood like crab or prawns if its for a special gathering.

Procedure:

I assure cooking this dish is very easy and simple. You will spend more time preparing the ingredients. Start by removing the skin of your gabi stems then cut them about 2 to three inches in length. Next get the gabi leaves. NEVER wash them. Use a clean sponge instead to clean the leaves of any dirt or insect that might be attached to it. Next tear them as you would tear a paper. Not too big nor too small. Put all the leaves together with the cut stem and dry them outside. Be sure you don’t cook laing during rainy season

As soon as your gabi leaves have dried up and wilted we can start cooking them now. Get a big casserole, it needs to be thick enough because this is a slow cooking dish. Out of fire assemble the ingredients on the casserole; starting with the pork belly, then put the garlic, onion and ginger. Then cover this with the gabi stem, then the gabi leaves. Pour the coconut milk and cream (if you are using freshly squeezed coconut milk put everything). Lastly put the dried fish on the top and cover the casserole. Put the casserole on fire and cook slowly for about an hour over low fire. Once you smelled that coconut milk has dried up and the scent of coconut oil is strong. Turn off the fire. Get the dried fish which is now soft and cooked, and start mincing them with your hand. Put back the fish meat (just the meat you can throw the head and fish bones) and add the siling haba and cut siling labuyo. Stir your laing from bottom to top delicately. Stir them well until all the ingredients are well distributed. Cover it again. Laing gets better as day passed by. So better to eat them the next day. That is if you have a fridge you can keep it. Or else invite your neighbor to eat it with you.