Guinataang Tanigue (King Fish) Recipe

Guinataang Tanigue

When I was growing up, I never liked guinataan dishes (except for the deserts) because my mother rarely cooked guinataan. As time went by, I learned to appreciate guinataan flavored dishes. What has drawn me to it is the rich taste of the coconut milk combined with the ginger flavor.

Since I’m a veggie lover I particularly like Guinaatang Sitaw and Kalabasa. Fish cooked in coconut milk has also become one of our favorite dishes.

From the supermarket shelf we went to yesterday, the steak-cut tanigue or king fish were neatly packed fresh and clean. It is always wonderful to cook fresh fish as the taste is quite delicious and the fish meat is tender and firm. Since our last guinataan dish has been a while ago, we decided to cook the tanigue this way.

Here is the Guinataang Tanigue (King Fish) Recipe:

Ingredients:
½ kilo tanigue, steak cut
250ml coconut milk
1 tbsp. ginger, thinly sliced long strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, sliced
3 tbsp. fish sauce or patis
1 bunch pechay or bok choy
4 pcs. banana chili
Cooking oil

Cooking Procedure:
1) Heat oil in a pan.
2) Sauté minced garlic. Do not brown.
3) Add ginger, sauté for 30 seconds.
4) Add onions and cook until translucent.
5) Pour in fish sauce. Sauté for a few seconds.
6) Pour in the coconut milk. Cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until the natural oil from the coconut milk comes out. Stir occasionally.
7) Add the banana chili and fish. Simmer for 5 minutes.
8) Add pechay or bok choy. Simmer for another minute or until the bok choy have wilted.
9) Serve hot with steamed rice.

Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa

Ginataan is a Filipino term that refers to anything cooked with coconut milk (or gata), while Sitaw means string beans and Kalabasa means squash. Ginataang Sitaw and Kalabasa may therefore be translated to "String Beans and Squash cooked in Coconut Milk." It can't get any shorter than that I guess.

Bok requested for this dish and so I checked the recipe from the Internet. Most of the recipes I found in the Internet would suggest to cook the coconut milk or gata first before adding the vegetable ingredients. The reason was that to avoid solid forming of the coconut milk. I thought that can only be true for fresh coconut milk and since I'm using canned coconut milk (which is more dilute) I altered my version into stir frying the squash together with the other ingredients, except for string beans as I don't want to overcook it. After a quick stir fry I then add the coconut milk. I was right, the milk did not make any solid form.

Ingredients:

1 small bundle of Sitaw or String Beans, cut into 2-1/2 to 3 inches long

1 small size kalabasa, peeled and cored, cut into 2 inches cubes

200 grams pork belly, sliced into short strips

1 large canned coconut milk (fresh gata is more commonly used)

1 medium-sized onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

3-4 pieces hot green pepper

Fish Sauce

Vegetable oil

Cooking Instruction:
1) Heat oil in a deep pan. Fry pork belly until lightly brown and set aside (be careful in frying as the oil tends to pop out from the pan.)
2) Saute garlic and onion in the same pan then add back in the fried pork belly.
3) Add the sliced kalabasa, stir then add fish sauce to taste and cover for 5 minutes.
4)Add the coconut milk and hot green pepper and let it simmer.
5)Add the string beans, then simmer for 5 minutes or until the string beans is cooked while stirring occassionally.

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serving size: good for 4 persons

Useful Info:
1) This dish is best served with steamed rice.
2) Boil pork belly first so you can slice it easily.
3) Cover your pan when frying pork belly as the oil tends to pop out from the pan.
4) Take the pan out from the heat when taking out the fried pork belly, again to avoid oil from popping out from the pan.

Healthy Option:
1) Replace pork with fresh shrimps or prepare the dish completely without it.

This recipe is just delicious, trust me!