Thursday, March 19, 2009

Chicken and Mangoes in Coconut Cream (Ginataang Manok at Mangga)



Joan of Foodalogue is taking a virtual culinary tour around the world, tasting each country's cuisine, learning a little bit of different cultures. All these to raise awareness about hunger in the world for BloggerAid. This week, our tour's destination is the Philippines!

Welcome, everyone, to this beautiful Pearl of the Orient! This is the land of warm white sands, clear blue waters. This is the land of Chocolate Hills, Rice Terraces, majestic waterfalls and rapids, the Palawan Underground River, and numerous seas where you can swim with dolphins and tortoises. This is the land of the world's smallest volcano (Taal) and the volcano with the most perfect cone (Mayon). We also have several of the best diving sites in the whole world.

This is also the land of the most resilient and patient people (we have to be, with the kind of government we have... ha ha ha!) The Filipinos are also known for their hospitality, and their kindness. Do you know that if you come and visit a Filipino home, you will surely be treated to a feast? Even if the family is not financially well-off, they will give you the best of what they have, they will make sure that you will be fed and fed, again and again... :) It is the culture. :)

I think I do not make a good travel writer :) Did I make you want to come and visit?


So, let's talk about food instead.

Philippine food is as diverse as its seven thousand and one hundred islands. Really! Each region, each locality always have their own version of a dish. And each dish is as tasty and delicious as the next one.

We have many delicious dishes to choose from. We have our famous sour tamarind soup (sinigang) , our fragrantly grilled (inihaw from charcoal) food, to roasted (whole) pigs (lechon) and chicken (inasal), to bopis (pig's lungs), dinuguan (pig's blood) and of course, our infamous balut (boiled fertilized duck eggs.) And this list barely scratched the surface yet... :)

I chose to feature a dish in mango and coconut cream (gata). As I have written in a post before, Philippine mangoes are really popular around the world. I may be biased, but a lot of people agree with me when I say (or rather write) that Philippine mangoes are the best in the world! Aside from mangoes, Philippines is also famous for its coconuts. We practically grew up drinking fresh coconut juice everyday! It is healthy and refreshing!

Coconut cream is different from coconut juice, though. The coconut juice is the water we get from young coconuts. The coconut cream is what we squeeze out/extracted from mature coconut meat. Nowadays, we have gadgets that extract the coconut cream from the meat, so we do not have to manually do the extraction at home. :)


1 kilo chicken, cleaned, chopped, skin removed
5 T canola oil
5 slices fresh ginger
4 T minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
2 T shrimp paste (bagoong)
3 pcs finger chillies (siling haba) whole or sliced, according to taste
1 can coconut cream
2 mangoes, deseeded, sliced
salt and pepper to taste


1. Heat up the cooking oil in a wok or skillet. Saute ginger until fragrant. Saute the onions until soft. Saute the garlic until fragrant.

2. Add in the shrimp paste. Stir for a while, then add in the chicken. Mix for a while until chicken changes color.

3. Add in the finger chillies, coconut cream. Cover and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Do not overcook chicken as the meat will harden.

4. Add in the sliced mangoes, season to taste and serve warm.











Sharing this dish with the BloggerAid community's Culinary Tour Around the World over at Joan's Foodalogue. Please visit BloggerAid and help stamp out world hunger. And please visit Fooadalogue aroound March 25 to see the round-up of delicious Philippine dishes.

21 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing an authentic view of The Philippines, its people, and its food!

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  2. Wonderful recipe, Ning. Despite your protestations, I now know more about the Philippines then I did before I read your post. So, you're not such a bad travel writer either.

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  3. I seldom have Filipino food. It looks good.

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  4. hmm.. may be I should visit Philipines next year .. sounds great to me !!! Thanks for sharing this recipe, will definately give this a try soon.

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  5. That's a great post Ning and you did give us a wonderful tour to your lovely country and food.

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  6. good job at promoting our country.. we are indeed a forgotten "Asian" country. When people talk about Asian cuisine, they refer to China, japan, thailand, etc.. but not Philippines... and your dish looks good. never had curry with mangoes before.. and hurray to philippine mangoes. they're the best - along with Cebu's lechon (hehe)!

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  7. love coconut and mangoes!!..I guess we asian love this combination and it's in our staple meal daily..

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  8. Hi Ning,
    Of course you made me want to come and visit and most of all meet you!LOL!Will there be chicken &mangoes in coconut milk upon my arrival? The Philippines sound like a fun place to be!

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  9. Tha mangoes have to be the one thing I miss the most about the Philippines. Ginataan with mangoes sounds so good right now.

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  10. Mangoes & chicken? Nice combi!!

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  11. hi ning, i totally agree with you, seems like we don't have a choice but to patiently wait for change... great recipe you have... :)

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  12. Ning, we miss your posts. I hope everything is ok with you.

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  13. I am so craving Philippine mangoes right now. Looks good!

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  14. Oh gee, absolutely love your flip flops photo!
    The chicken sounds really good!
    LL

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  15. Hi Joan! Thanks for the round-up!

    Thank you, Mary! :)

    Actually, Tigerfish, most Filipino food does not look good, but I promise you Filipino food is delicious!

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  16. Hello Jin Hooi! I hope you will enjoy visiting the Philippines! We have lots of beautiful sites and food is cheap and delicious! :)

    Thanks, Ivy!

    Thanks, Jescel! I agree with your Cebu lechon - which is now available in Manila! Yehey!

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  17. Hello Lesley! Yeah, coconut and mangoes are sooo Asian! and so yummy! LOL!

    Hello Nazarina! If you come and visit, we'll feed you more than this chicken and mango dish!!! :)

    Hello Jude! My sister in California would agree with you... she gorges on mangoes when she comes home for a break :)

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  18. Thanks, Galatians!

    Well, Mikky... life goes on, I guess... :)

    Hi Jonnek!!! Oh gosh! it warms my heart to know that you miss my posts. :) Really!!!

    I had an accident in the middle of March, actually, even before this post, which I wrote (and scheduled to be published) beforehand. And I could not move or even sit for a time, so I was not able to post recipes and dishes. I think I am 80 percent ok now. However, even now, I cannot sit for a long time :) But God is good! Now, I am trying to do back-dated posting. Hoping I can catch up soon! :)

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  19. Thanks JS! :)

    Hi Lori Lynn!!! That flip-flop photo is one of my favorites too! :)

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  20. WOOOOOOOOOOOOW !!!!!! Amazing post !
    i have learnt a great idea from this post!
    Thanks a lot for shiring this useful post!
    I will visit your blog continuously for update post !

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  21. Hey,
    Your post is looks so crazy!
    I think you just sold me lol! If anything could do it, it's brownies. I'm always on the look out for the perfect brownie recipe and I don't think I've found it yet. These however look like they could be the ones. :)

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