A very simple and tasty seafood dish with coconut milk that you can cook with ease. This ginataang alimasag dish, (which is crabs in coconut milk) are combined with vegetables such as squash and stringbeans. Although there are other versions of ginataang alimasag that don’t have those veggies and only uses dahon ng sili (bird’s eye chili leaves), the name of the dish are often synonymous. I just included those veggies in the title to differentiate it to the other ginataang alimasag version. Usually the kind of crabs used in this dish are blue crabs which are often sold in the wet market or supermarkets. But you can also use the mudcrabs which are more expensive. And with regard to cooking this dish, the method we used is cooking the veggies first before putting the crabs but if you like to have your veggies slightly half cooked, you can do vice versa by cooking the crabs first before adding the veggies.
Ginataang Alimasag (sa Kalabasa at Sitaw)
Ingredients
- 1 kilo alimasag blue crabs, cleaned and halved
- 1/4 medium sized squash peeled, seeded and cubed
- 2 bunches of stringbeans sitaw, cut into 2 inch long
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium size onion chopped
- 1 to 2 pcs thumb sized ginger sliced into strips
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp. patis
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
How to Cook Ginataang Alimasag sa Kalabasa at Sitaw:
- Clean the crabs by washing in running water and brushing it with toothbrush if a little dirty.
- If the crabs are large, you can divide it by cutting it in half. Then set aside.
- In a deep pan or wok, heat some cooking oil and saute garlic and onions until the onions are soft.
- Then add the ginger and saute again for half a minute. Pour patis and let it simmer for a while.
- Stir and add in the squash. Continue stirring for a minute then add in the string beans.
- Saute for a few seconds then add in the crabs. Pour also the coconut milk and bring to a boil and cover.
- Cook for about 5 to 8 minutes and stir it from time to time so the crabs will be evenly cooked.
- Season with salt and pepper before turning off heat. Serve hot with lots of cooked rice.
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