I almost didn't order this vegetable dish at Kuya's when I lunched with Cecilia a couple weeks ago, but I did stop at the Filipino grocery, Seafood City afterward, and bought talong (eggplant) and sitaw (long beans). Food is nostalgia for me lately and how I’ve been connecting to my Filipina identity. I forgot to buy shrimp and made a stop at Trader Joe's. Found a pork chop in my freezer as well as a can of coconut milk in my pantry and still had the half a kabocha squash (kalabasa) in my fridge from another Filipino grocery store run in American Canyon. And then it was a matter of chopping onion, shallot, and garlic and cutting up a pork chop into chunks for a mise en place.
Step 1, get a pot of onion scraps and pork bones leftover from my lemongrass grilled ribs boiling away on my stove to add bone broth to my Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw at Talong. Step 2, sauté the aromatics and the pork and shrimp paste.
Bagoong alamang or krill paste is what I grew up eating--my mother either adding it to her cooking or me dipping green mango into its pink paste for a sour and salty snack. The paste is what gives my Filipino dishes that discernible funk or umami. Next came the kalabasa or kabocha squash which I had slightly peeled and cut into chunks.
I then added pork broth and coconut milk and started the stew simmering. I should have tested the tenderness of the hard squash, and so I think I boiled it too long before adding the eggplant and green beans.
I should have added the green beans at the same time as the eggplant. Again I cooked the vegetables too long, but I was trying to drive off moisture from the stew.
I added the shrimp the last 2 to 3 minutes, so it would not overcook.
No comments:
Post a Comment