Ginataang Kalabasa

Happy New Year everyone! I bet a lot of us gained an extra pound during the holidays, eh? I did, and when I think of all the meat and cholesterol which I took in, delicious as they were, I feel kinda awful too coz let's admit it, most are unhealthy! Sugar. Fat. Ugh, no wonder they tasted good... :)

So, to kind of cleanse myself, I have been thinking of eating veggies for the time being and remembered I have not eaten this dish for so long which made me crave for it more. Actually, I have not tried cooking this dish on my own. Just watched other people do and ain't it exciting to try it on my own? So, off I went to the market the other day and readied myself to my experiment, hehehe.

Ginataang kalabasa, or simply squash with coconut milk. I checked out some recipes on the net and some people put pork in it but since I've had enough of that already, I decided to use shrimp instead. Okay now, I am not a professional cook. I have had no formal studies in cooking, whatsoever. Everything I learned, I got from my mom's kitchen and mostly from reading recipes and tweaking them according to my preference. In other words, "patsamba" a.k.a. "patsam". Remember that term coz I will be using it a lot for I have a number of "patsam" recipes.

Ingredients: garlic, onion, ginger, squash (peeled and cut into cubes), string beans (sitaw, cut into about 2-in length), coconut milk (thin and thick), whole shrimp (cleaned), shrimp paste, fish sauce, salt and pepper.

Ginataang Kalabasa

First, saute garlic, onions, and ginger. I usually mince my ginger in any of my recipes coz I want them to kind of disappear and not bite unto a whole strip of it as I eat. Add pork (if you are using them) and shrimp paste and saute until pork is brown. Add the squash and pour in the thin coconut milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Let it boil until the squash is partly cooked, then add the string beans, shrimp, and thick coconut milk. Simmer until the string beans are cooked. Add fish sauce, salt, and pepper, according to taste.

Personally, I prefer the squash slightly over-cooked in this dish so I let it boil a bit longer before adding the beans. That's because I love mashing it down as I eat. To each his own folks! :).... Gave some of this to my neighbors and was rewarded a couple of days later with Inihaw na Bangus, nom-nom-nom!