Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk - AFF Philippines July 2014

Last year, I was coaxed by my dear Filipino friend to visit Philippines. She arranged my whole itinerary. It was truly one of the best holiday I ever had! We not only had a lot of sight-seeing and activities, we also experienced all kinds of cuisines, especially Filipino cusines! It was also my first time having fresh sea urchin and balut. And best of all, we were driven around by her chauffeur in Manila! She was truly such a good host I almost can't bear to leave Manila!

While I was there, I ate a lot of dishes cooked in coconut milk. They were known as ginataang gulay. It means vegetables stewed in coconut milk. Here are two of these I had in Philippines.

They were so good, I had to ask my helper to re-create them at home. She was pretty familliar with this. And since I bought Achuete seeds and bagoong, she added them to the vegetables to make it more Filipino taste. The achuete seeds made it more reddish. Here's how to prepare them.

Recipe for Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk aka ginataang gulay
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Half a large oval (Cameron) cabbage
1 Carrot, sliced
4 slices Ginger
200g Pumpkin
1 tbsp Achuete seeds
1 tbsp Bagoong
250g Coconut cream
Cooking oil

Method:

1. Heat wok, add the cooking oil.
2. Sauteed achuete seeds in the oil, when the oil is dark orange in colour, discard the seeds.
3. Add in bagoong and ginger and stir till fragrant.
4. Add in pumpkin and cooked till slightly soft.
5. Add in cabbage and carrot and sauteed till soft.
6. Turn down the heat, and add in coconut milk and let it slimmer for about 15mins.
7. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.