GINATAANG GULAY

Ginataang Gulay

Good morning fellow weekend kitchen warriors, it is that time of the week again where we go hunting for Filipino's favorite vegetable, pork. Kidding, coconut! Well, fruit, whatever. Today recipe will include lots of coconut milk ( because it's rich, flavored, nutritious and delicious) and pumpkin because Halloween just went by and the Starbucks spicy pumpkin latte is not exactly what you'd eat for dinner. Also, considering my recent visit to the dentist, boiled vegetables would be of great use, as pizza crust is definitely a no for my gums at the moment. That being said , yes, we get old and not necessarily wiser, and teeth problems come along with our numerous life accomplishments. But let's cut to the coconut cause I know your time is precious and you might probably be hungry by now: Ginataang Gulay!

What you'll need is a small and cute pumpkin/squash ( as we didn't find the so called jackfruit the recipe calls for). Take a picture of it (  it makes for a  nice autumn Instagram photo that shows your secret admirers you have the soul of an artist - remove the photo bombing onion from the frame)  and then cut it into pieces as in the Halloween stories you heard on the TV news. Add two of your best medium eggplants to the mix, along with green beans and a pinch of pepper and set aside for later.

Now, we start as usual with the onion and garlic, swimming in a hot bath of  coconut oil to preserve the flavor of the dish. Once it develops a very weird and inexplicable foam topping,

add in the pork vegetable and golden a bit and then ( Surpriiise! - Shrimp! ) Now I know the recipe calls for shrimp, but where could you get better shrimp than the sea? That's why I evaluated the options and decided to purchase instead a bag of frozen sea food , so we'll create a nice mix of  fishy flavors to complement the meat.

 This, of course should come with the famous Filipino shrimp paste that you can get everywhere, even on the street as topping for a green mango ( R's favorite! ), but, since i couldn't find any on my scavenging trip I'll use the next best thing, TomYum spicy paste mix? I hope it works.

Make all of it bath for a bit in a can of nice coconut milk , and don't forget to save some for your morning coffee ( cause it's delicious! ) Yes, I was talking about TomYum for the coffee, don't you want to show Instagram your adventurous side also? Now increase the fishiness with just a few drops of fish sauce and add the pumpkin and eggplant we prepared earlier.

 See, this is super easy, now we just wait and hope the taste will match the great effort we've put into preparing this dish. And surprise, it does! the coconut is there, and the seafood is just great on your red rice serving. Sarap? Coconut!

Bonus: get the half pumpkin left , coat it with sugar and leave it in the oven for a bit to bake. It makes for a very nice dessert, and again shows to Instagram what a cool person you are. Eat it with a can of coconut milk! - or TomYum, as preferred.