11 Best Ginataan Recipes: Filipino Cuisine Simmered In Coconut
Ginataan is a Filipino dish made with coconut milk. It’s perfect for any occasion and can be made with chicken, pork, beef, or shrimp.
Here are the top ginataan recipes from our vault.
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- 1 Best 11 ginataan recipes
- 1.1 Ginataang tilapia
- 1.2 Ginataang monggo
- 1.3 Ginataang Salmon Filipino style
- 1.4 Ginataang Alimasag crabs with coconut milk
- 1.5 Ginataang langka with tinapa flakes
- 1.6 Filipino ginataang mais
- 1.7 Ginataang yellowfin tuna
- 1.8 Ginataang Chicken, coconut, and Papaya
- 1.9 Ginataang Galunggong
- 1.10 Ginataang Manok: Filipino Spicy Chicken in Coconut Milk
- 1.11 Ginataang sitaw at kalabasa
- 2 11 Best Ginataan Recipes
- 3 Conclusion
Best 11 ginataan recipes
Ginataang tilapia
This dish’s main ingredient, tilapia, is a freshwater fish that’s especially delicious when fried or turned into soup.
In the form of ginataang tilapia though, you can have some fried fish with delicious and creamy coconut milk, which helps give a creamy flavor to the robust taste of the tilapia.
The ingredients that you need in order to cook the delicious ginataang tilapia recipe are tilapia, cooking oil, garlic, onions, salt and pepper, and coconut milk (ginataan).
When you’ve gathered the ingredients, you can start cooking this delicious dish!
Ginataang monggo
After toasting the mung beans, set them aside to cool down. Once cooled, use a mortar and pestle to crush the beans and set the crushed beans aside.
On a pan, cook the glutinous rice with some water. Stir to prevent the rice from burning in the pan.
Once you’re done cooking the glutinous rice, put the monggo beans in, then coconut milk. Let it simmer.
You can add sugar to the ginataang monggo to add sweetness to the dish.
Once it has a thick consistency, you can now serve it in a bowl, either hot or cold, depending on the weather or how you want it to be. Eat it with your family or friends!
Ginataang Salmon Filipino style
Leave the coconut milk aside and start sautéing the ingredients. First, the garlic and the onions, the long green chilies, and the salmon itself.
Finally, you add the coconut milk and the eggplant. Add salt and pepper to taste and let it simmer until it is cooked.
There are different versions of this dish depending on where in the Philippines the dish is cooked.
Bicolanos will prefer it with red chilis to make it extra hot, and some would ditch the eggplants. To adjust the consistency, you can also add water to make it brothy.
Ginataang Alimasag crabs with coconut milk
As with the other ginataan recipes, this dish’s preparation will take a significant amount of time if you will be the one to squeeze the coconut milk out of the shredded coconut meat.
However, with the presence of the instant ginataan mix sold in supermarkets, this should not be the case.
In case you want to enjoy it au naturel though, using coconut milk is always the way to go.
Cooking and following the ginataang Alimasag with the Malunggay recipe is a different story, however, since you just let the coconut milk boil, add the vegetables gradually and you’re done.
Ginataang langka with tinapa flakes
Do you like smoked fish? And do you like coconut milk? Then you’re sure to like ginataang langka with tinapa flakes!
Fair warning: This dish will steal your heart!
Just like any other type of ginataan dish, this ginataang langka with tinapa flakes is a sure win for Filipino family cuisine. Served with delicious coconut milk and jackfruit that tastes like chicken, it’s no wonder why this dish is specially prepared at festivals.
Filipino ginataang mais
The dish itself is much like arroz caldo in consistency, but is much sweeter and creamier in flavor due to coconut milk being one of the main ingredients, as well as the addition of sugar to the dish.
It doesn’t take too long to make ginataang mais and it’s especially great for cold weather when hot, warm weather when served cold, or when you just really crave ginataang mais!
Ginataang yellowfin tuna
Ginataang yellowfin tuna (or tambakol) is a variety of ginataan.
This is a creamy and tasty Filipino dish with so many varieties using all sorts of different ingredients, depending on what kind of ginataan is desired.
The ingredients are usually sautéed then cooked with coconut milk, or locally known by Filipinos as ginata. The ginataan adds a creamy, coconut flavor to the ingredients.
Ginataang Chicken, coconut, and Papaya
To make Ginataang Papaya, the ingredients that are required are really quite easy to find in the market or your nearby supermarket if you will.
The ingredients that you need are the unripe papaya, garlic, cooking oil, shrimp paste (bagoong), salt and pepper for taste, and the coconut oil (ginataan).
Afterward, you’re all set to start cooking Ginataang Papaya.
Ginataang Galunggong
Ask any Filipino and they would know what Galunggong is; gaining notoriety as a fish that is used to measure how much the Philippine peso could buy.
It can never be denied that Galunggong is popular not only because it is cheaper than most types of fishes but also because it is very easy to cook no matter what recipe it is included in.
Simple and uncomplicated, galunggong is called round scad fish because of its rounded body.
This fish is used in different Filipino dishes and one of these is the Ginataang Galunggong recipe.
Ginataang Manok: Filipino Spicy Chicken in Coconut Milk
Spicy Chicken in Coconut Milk is simply Ginataang Manok in Native Parlance.
As with other coconut milk-based dishes, spicy chicken in coconut milk recipe is a no-nonsense dish that makes use of coconut milk, putting the ingredients and letting it simmer until all of the ingredients are tender.
Mostly enjoyed as a viand for lunch and dinner, this could either be in the brothy or on the more textured side.
Ginataang puso ng saging
This Ginataang Puso ng Saging recipe is another great and tasty variation of Ginataan, a popular Filipino dish that has all sorts of delicious variations made with ingredients such as meat, vegetables, and seafood that is cooked in coconut milk (Ginataan).
The Ginataang Puso ng Saging’s main ingredient is the flower of the Banana shrub, otherwise known by Filipinos as the “Puso ng Saging”.
The flower is considered a vegetable, and all sorts of other ingredients can be added to modify the recipe, such as dilis (anchovies).
Ginataang sitaw at kalabasa
It’s easy to remember the ingredients for Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa with Pork. First, you have the meat, which is pork.
Second, you have the squash and string beans as the main vegetables. Lastly, you have the gata or the coconut milk used to simmer all of the ingredients mentioned earlier.
11 Best Ginataan Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 cup gata (unang piga) / coconut cream first extraction
- 1 cup gata (pangalawang piga) / coconut cream second extraction
- 1 small ginger root chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 pcs siling haba (green chili pepper)
- 2 pcs Siling labuyo (red chili pepper) chopped
- 1 bunch mustasa (mustard greens) sliced in half
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Ginataan is most delicious when you use a bit of coconut cream from the second and first extraction. Put the second extraction of coconut cream in a pan over medium heat.
- When the coconut cream starts to boil, add the ginger and onion, and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the mustard greens and the first extraction coconut cream, then cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, plus the chili peppers.
- Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Serve with rice.
Video
Nutrition
Conclusion
There’s just so much you can do with coconut milk, from sweet dessert to lightly sweet savory and spicy ginataang dishes.
Check out our new cookbook
Bitemybun's family recipes with complete meal planner and recipe guide.
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Read for free
Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.