Ginataang Kalabasa, Sitaw at Hipon

I learned how to cook with French techniques. But my primary influence is obviously Southeast Asian, specifically Filipino. This is exactly why I can't go completely vegetarian or vegan - I love cooking with fermented shrimp paste and fish sauce. These two ingredients impart a kind of funk that no other fermented foods that I've ever eaten have, except for maybe cheese. They really deepen the flavor of the dish and the umami is so pronounced that I don't care if the dish has meat or not.

Ginataang kalabasa, sitaw at hipon, or squash, green beans and shrimp stewed in coconut milk, is not a Filipino dish that I grew up with. I did, however, grow up eating a version of this without coconut milk, and with pork instead of shrimp. When I was in cooking school I learned how to make Thai green curry (curry paste from scratch!) and pad Thai from Chef Sirichalerm Svasti, otherwise known as McDang (who is apparently a celebrity master chef in Thailand - still sorta shocked by this fact). It's really during this time that I fell in love with coconut milk and learned about Southeast Asian aromatics not typical in a Filipino kitchen.

Usually this dish is sweet and mellow so I added a little Thai influence. I used aromatics like galangal which is similar to ginger and smells a bit like eucalyptus and tastes sorta medicinal, but it gives this irresistible floral note when fried in combination with garlic, ginger, and shallots. I also used kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass to complement the sweetness of the squash and coconut milk. The shrimp paste used is bagoong alamang which is prominent in the dishes of Pangasinan, a coastal province north of Manila where my grandparents from both sides are from.

When cooking savory foods, I don't usually measure my ingredients. I rely more on taste and smell. So here's the ingredient list with the approximate amounts:

3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1-inch knob (or roughly the same amount of garlic) ginger, finely minced
1-inch knob galangal, finely minced
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
2 small roma tomatoes, small dice
handful of green beans, cut in half
1/2 of a small kabocha, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
1 lemongrass, cut in 3-inch pieces
2 kaffir lime leaves
12 black tiger shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon bagoong alamang
2 tablespoons fish sauce
vegetable or canola oil
jasmine rice - always

If you're like me who likes to take time slicing and chopping, prep time is about half an hour. This amount serves four unless you're really hungry.

Heat oil in a wok or a sautoir pan. Add shrimp and sauté until barely pink, remove from pan and set aside - the shrimp should not be fully cooked. I do this to give a little shrimp flavor to the oil and to prevent it from overcooking. Turn heat on high, add a little more oil if needed, then add garlic, ginger, galangal and shallot and fry until very fragrant. Add shrimp paste and fry until your entire house smells like butt. Add the tomatoes, cook until it releases a little bit of water then add the kabocha squash and mixed to coat them with the aromatic mixture. Sauté for about a minute then turn down heat to medium and add coconut milk and lemongrass - make sure to pound the lemongrass with the back of the knife to release its aroma and essential oils. Simmer until kabocha squash can be pierced by a fork but still have a little hardness to them. When simmering, occasionally stir to prevent coconut milk from burning. Add green beans. Tear kaffir lime leaves into smaller pieces and add in - make sure to tear over the pot so the essential oils will be caught into the pot. Cover and simmer until green beans are done then add shrimp. Keep simmering until shrimp is completely cooked. Season with fish sauce to taste and you're done!

What I especially like about this dish is that unlike the typical Thai curry, the coconut milk really cooks down into a thick sauce and really develops its sweetness, so there's no need to add palm sugar.