Ginataan

Ginataan (pronounced: GHEE-nah-ta-AN), alternatively spelled guinataan, is a Filipino term which refers to food cooked with gatâ (coconut milk).^[1] Literally translated, ginataan means "done with coconut milk". Due to the general nature of the term, it may refer to a number of different dishes, each called ginataan, but distinct from one another.

Ginataan

Top: Ginataang kalabasa (calabaza and string beans in coconut milk) with shrimp; Bottom: Ginataang mais, a dessert rice gruel (lugaw) with sweet corn and coconut milk
Course	Main course, dessert
Place of origin	The Philippines
Serving temperature	Hot or cold
Main ingredients	Coconut milk (gatâ)
Media: Ginataan

During the Spanish colonial era, ginataan was brought to Mexico through the Manila galleons which docked in Acapulco. Today, it has become naturalized in the regional cuisines of Guerrero and Colima, like the zambaripao or the tuba. In Spanish it is called guinatán.^[2][3]

Terminology

Ginataan is the affixed form of gatâ ("coconut milk"): g- + -in- + -atâ + -an ("done with coconut milk"). It usually refers to dishes which are eaten with rice during the major meals of the day. It normally follows the form "ginataan na/ginataang + (whatever it is cooked with)" or "(dish name) + sa gatâ". For example, ginataang hipon refers to shrimp cooked in coconut milk, ginataang gulay to an assortment of vegetables cooked in coconut milk, ginataang alimango is mud crab cooked in coconut milk, while ginataang manok is chicken cooked in coconut milk.^[4][5][6] Coconut milk may be added to existing dishes as in ginataang adobo (known more commonly in Tagalog as adobo sa gatâ).^[7]

There are other dishes which are known by unique names including Bicol express, laing and variants of pinakbet, which nonetheless fall under the ginataan category because they use coconut milk as one of the main ingredients.^[8][9]

Sweet variants

Main article: Binignit

Various sweet desserts may also simply be called ginataan, especially in the northern Philippines.^[1] For example, the Visayan binignit, a soup made with coconut milk, glutinous rice, tubers, tapioca pearls, and sago is simply called ginataan in Tagalog (a shortened form of the proper name, ginataang halo-halo).^[10] This soup is also called "giná-tan" in Bikolano, "ginettaán" in Ilokano, and "ginat-ang lugaw" in Hiligaynon. If gummy balls made of pounded glutinous rice are used instead of plain glutinous rice, it becomes a dish called ginataang bilo-bilo or simply bilo-bilo.^[11] Ginataang mais is another example of a dessert soup; a warm, sweet, thick gruel made with coconut milk, sweet corn, and glutinous rice.^[12]

List of ginataan dishes

Dishes considered under the ginataan category include:

Main dishes

Ginataang ampalaya, bitter melon and tinapa in coconut milk

Laing, taro leaves with meat or seafood in coconut milk

Binignit, a dessert soup of various root crops, fruits, tapioca pearls, and glutinous rice in coconut milk

• Adobo sa gata
• Curacha Alavar
• Ginataang ampalaya
• Ginataang isda
• Ginataang kalabasa
• Ginataang kuhol
• Ginataang labong
• Ginataang langka
• Ginataang manok
• Ginataang ubod
• Ginisang munggo sa gata
• Gising-gising (ginataang sigarilyas)
• Inubarang manok
• Inulukan
• Kinilaw
• Kulawo
• Laing
• Linarang
• Piaparan
• Pininyahang hipon
• Pininyahang manok
• Piyanggang manok
• Rendang
• Sinanglay
• Sinantolan
• Sinilihan (Bicol express)
• Sorol
• Tinumok
• Tiyula itum

Dessert

• Bilo-bilo
• Binignit
• Ginataang mais
• Ginataang munggo
• Ginataang saba
• Pinakro

See also

• Food portal

• Coconut soup
• Gulai
• List of dishes using coconut milk
• List of soups