Super Easy Filipino Coco, Squash'n Beanz "Curry" (Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa)

Filipino food is often very low-key and quite simple in technique - which is great for weekday cooking but probably part of why it's not really well known around the world. I started thinking of it like a mix of many South East Asian cuisines, but optimized to the chill lifestyle of the  country itself. 

Ginataang is a perfect example. It's a popular cooking technique in the Philippines, and it pretty much just means you cook things in coconut milk. Coconuts are abundant all over the country, and they are super fresh and just worlds better than what you can regularly find in Europe. I enjoyed one every morning, bought fresh from the nice kuya ("bro") around the corner for less than a buck. 

What I'm having here is a buko - a young coconut. It's full of mildly sweet and extremely refreshing coconut water and the flesh is very tender, moist and a bit slimy. When a coconut matures, the flesh gets fibrous and rich, the coconut water slowly disappears. When you grind the mature flesh and heavily compress it, it will seperate into coconut pulp aaaand... Coconut milk! 

When buying coconut milk, check the ingredients. The best coconut milk will contain only coconut milk and water, at least 75% or, even better, more than that. You'll be surprised how much other stuff (stabilizers, xanthan gum, starch, etc) many brands add.  

So with that out of the way - you can stew anything in coconut milk and that's already pretty damn tasty! I like adding an equal amount of water because coconut milk can be very, very rich and heavy.

A super common combo in the Philippines is squash and green beans. There is a specific type of squash called "Kalabasa" - the flesh is very fibrous, which actually makes it a bit reminiscent of slow cooked meat in texture once you cook it until tender. I found that most pumpkins or squashes totally work as replacements!

Here's what you'll need:

• handful of green beans, ends trimmed
• 2 handfuls cubed and peeled squash or pumpkin,
• 1,5 cups coconut milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• cilantro for garnish (optional)

Here's how you cook this - super simple:

1) Fry onions in some oil until fragrant and lightly browned

2) Add garlic and squash, stir fry for a few moments until lightly browned

3) Add coconut milk & water, fish sauce, sason with salt & pepper

4) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer (covered) for 15 minutes or until squash is fork tender. 

5) Uncover; Now you can lightly mash a few pieces of the squash (will thicken the stew) and reduce for a few minutes if you like a thicker gravy.

6) Add green beans, simmer for another 2-3 minutes, until beans are cooked but still bright green and firm

7) Garnish with cilantro and Serve with garlic rice from my video! Enjoy!