I was hyperactively excited for this month’s Kulinarya theme. Althea of Busog Sarap and Asha of Fork Spoon and Knife are the hosts for July’s Kulinarya theme and I couldn’t be any happier… they chose Gata or coconut milk-based dishes.
Anyone who knows me well knows that dishes made with coconut milk are one of my most favourite in the Filipino culinary world. I remember as a kid, I would always request Mum to cook Ginataang kalabasa at sitaw (pumpkin and snake beans with coconut milk). I love mashing the soft, sweet pumpkin on the rice and finishing off with a generous amount of the coconut milk sauce.
But how could you make this better?
Add some seafood of course. Blue swimmer crabs, that is.
This was Mum’s Sunday best lunch. I remember waking up at 7am on Sundays, drink my hot Milo, get out of my jammies and run to the car and excitedly go with Mum to the markets. My sisters thought it was crazy to wake up that early on a Sunday, but even thought it crazier that I actually wanted to visit the smelly, wet, putrid fish markets back in the Philippines. But it didn’t matter – I wanted to go food shopping with Mum and I was in my element.
This recipe is one of Mum’s magical Sunday lunches that I will always remember as one of the best meals if my childhood, and what better way to share this than through a feature for Kulinarya Cooking Club?
Ginataang Alimango at Kalabasa (Crab and Pumpkin with Coconut Milk)
Makes 4 servings
4 blue swimmer crabs
1/2 medium Japanese pumpkin, peeled and sliced into big chunks
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, minced
2 tbsp fish sauce
Ginger the size of a big thumb, sliced thinly
300ml coconut milk
- In a big pan, saute ginger, garlic and onions with olive oil. Add fish sauce.
- Add the pumpkin and cook until just soften.
- Add the crabs and cook for 6-10 minutes (depending on pan size, crab size and heat distribution).
- Once the crabs are cooked, add the coconut milk and bring to boil.
- Serve with vinegar with garlic and chilli – or just by itself will do!
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