Ginataang Langka / Jackfruit in Coconut Milk
We ate a lot of ripe langka or jackfruit as kids. But I don’t recall eating unripe jackfruit as a vegetable. I recently featured a Kadyos, Baboy at Langka (KBL) a few months ago. And I have taken to ginataang langka (unrie jackfruit in coconut milk) in the past couple of years and despite it being so rich and probably cholesterol laden, I get a hankering for it every so often. So I decided to make it at home, and while I could have used a palayok, this dish was made on the stove. First, find a small young jackfruit, like the one in the photo, a couple of kilos in weight and it cost just PHP35 from one of my favorite farmers/market stall owners at the FTI market. Next, peel the sappy sucker and slice up the langka meat into smaller almost bite-size pieces, placing them in a bowl of water to prevent browning. Boil the langka for about 30+ minutes or until tender. In another pan over medium high flame, add several cups of coconut milk, chopped onions and or leeks, and bring this to a boil. Add the langka pieces and cook until the sauce is thickened a bit…
The key now is to add thicker coconut cream to add a richness to the dish. This has to be the first pressing, or in this case, I used the thick upper half of a can of coconut cream. Next, add some whole soriso, or meaty daing na isda, and season with some cracked black pepper. Serve hot with lots of rice. This version tasted delicious. I removed some of the soriso as the dish was getting a bit too salty, but overall, it was rather yummy. Perfect as a side dish to say some fried fish or pork. For me, the sauce must be rather thick not watery, and because of the coconut milk, the dish can be a bit of the naturally sweet side of the taste spectrum…
I consider coconut milk a magic wand - it brightens up the flavor of everything cooked in it. The astringent young langka with its milky sap turn into savory dish with cream on creamed coconut milk. I would soak the soriso or dried fish first in warm water to make them malleable and get rid of some of the salt before adding them to the dish and add some chopped chili to contrast the creaminess of the dish.
February 1st, 2008Oh, my goodness MM!…indeed it is cholesterol laden BUT GOOD! I have made up my mind to eat the foods those I consider just childhood memories before I go under the knife…don’t know what the outcome will be (there’s always a risk!!!)..and this dish MM ranks about one of the top ones, I say…
This is off the topic, MM…I would just like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this blog…Through this blog, I have met THOUGH ONLY HERE IN CYBERSPACE 5 very WONDERFULPEOPLE ….2 in California (one who is my KITCHEN FAIRY GODMOM and then there`s my Vietnamese food buddy..Ted..), 1 back home (who in my past life we were probably twins!…have sooo many similarities )…1 here in Vancouver (Onie) and of course MM!…You guys brighten my day!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!
February 1st, 2008Kamansi (seeded breadfruit) can also be cooked the same way.
Dried pusit chopped thinly is also good with the ginataang langka or kamansi.
February 1st, 2008This is one of my faves!
February 1st, 2008It’s also great when it’s spicy and “pinatuyuan.” Nice to pair with fried porkchop or barbeque. :)
February 1st, 2008Would this be good with some cut up chili? I love, love the combination of coconut milk and chilies!
February 1st, 2008MM, you might want to try the Leyte version of langka salad. It is yummy and visually appealing. Here’s the procedure: Peel the green jackfruit and boil it until tender. Remove any hard part. Set aside. Chop finely ginger, red chili, round onion and green onion. To the grated coconut, add ΒΌ cup water and extract coconut milk. Simmer coconut milk in skillet for 5 minutes or so, stirring constantly to prevent curdling (this will minimize the sweetish taste of coconut milk). Season coconut milk with salt and mix with cooked langka and chopped ingredients.
February 1st, 2008Just a correction: adjust the amount of coconut milk to the quantity of cooked langka. Best to get a large coconut and add 1/2 to 1 cup water to squeeze the milk.
February 1st, 2008this is really delicious. love it with sago or those round rice(?) thingies..
February 1st, 2008mikel,
February 1st, 2008You’re talking about the ripe langka mixed into the ginatan, a desert concoction. This is unripened lanka made into ginataan not equal to ginatan.
I also love cooked langka! The only messy part for me is chopping the langka into bits. Unripe langka sap is sticky and goo-ey. I found out that rubbing everything (from hands, knives and chopping board) with cooking oil helps clean everything easier. Just with the idea of coming out with this delicious dish makes me go through all the tedious process of getting the langka nicely prepared. And when I do not have the soriso I make use of tinapa. It is not so salty and its “smokiness” gives it a milder fish taste.
February 1st, 2008Shrimp bagoong can also do in a pinch if soriso (we use daing na labahita) is not available. Sili (labuyo or siling haba) gives it the added kick. Sarap!!!!
February 1st, 2008One of my favourites! I haven’t tried cooking this but I will this weekend if I find the ingredients in the market. Daghan kaayong salamat, MM, this will be one more recipe I learned from you! :-)
February 1st, 2008Breadfruit (rimas or pakak here in our province) is the equivalent of unripe langka also cooked the same way with dried dilis (anchovies) instead of soriso…
February 1st, 2008Your version looks creamier than what we usually do at home, but then I like anything with gata. I love this with pork that has a little fat in it. :)
February 1st, 2008Oh yum. I am very excited. Several helpers have tried to make this forme but never to my liking, probably because I never had a proper recipe for them to work with. Thanks for this one! I am easily one of your readers that has tried 10+ recipes from this blog!
February 1st, 2008Oh, this brings so much childhood memories. This is so good with buwad/dried fish or grilled tinabal (sorry, i don’t know if there’s a direct translation for it). Yum!
February 1st, 2008I know that coconut milk is very high in fat, but are you saying it is high in cholesterol as well? I’ve been asking and googling around for years, and as far as I know, cholesterol is found only in animal-based fat (incuding milk, eggs, butter)..please correct me if I am wrong.
Great blog, MM, as always…thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us, and for letting us into your kitchen.
February 1st, 2008moni: I’m with you re the langka salad. The addition of ginger wonderfully compliments the langka. This puts our cook in a quandary though, because my mom and I want lots of ginger, and my dad hates the stuff, hehe…
MM, my mom cooks her ginataang langka a bit on the dry side, with lots of chopped shrimp and sili. As you’re wont to say: but fantastic!
February 1st, 2008@ted..thanks for the info. now i realize what this dish is and remember that it’s good too. i love anything with coco in it.
February 1st, 2008whew! my favorite.. yum! just had it this weekend.. my mom makes something where the gata is not cooked.. it’s really good..
February 1st, 2008Tuesday, you may be absolutely correct, high in fat and not necessarily in cholesterol… But the jury is inconclusive, refer to this link and this link which lightly discusses whether coconut oil affects cholesterol levels. :)
February 2nd, 2008This is probably the one of my favorite dishes! I first tasted when our long-time maid, Noemie, made it for us. I loooove this dish!
February 2nd, 2008this is my old time fave..hmmmm how i wish im back home..eating this would be a lot easier..:-) next time i’ll be home i’ll better gather some langka seeds..maybe i can grow them here :-)
February 3rd, 2008I sometimes add a few lime leaves on ginataang jackfruit and cut red and green chillies for colour. Lime leaves tend to be overpowering, so I just add about 2-3 whole leaves for a bit of added taste and novelty.
February 3rd, 2008We add bulad bolinao(dried bolinaw fish, instead of pork or soriso, sometimes any meaty dried fish)and lotsa ginger…lucky for us we can easily buy clean,sliced jackfruit at the mall grocery here,saves us time. Love to eat it with fried fish or tuyo…and lots of rice.
February 3rd, 2008i experimented with this adding a bit of curry powder and sliced liempo, tasted great!
February 5th, 2008oh,my! this makes me hungry. This recipe is just in time for this lent season. unfortunately, here in Canada, I could only find green jackfruit in the can. It’s not white or cream colour when cooked. It’s a little dark(brown) and the coconut is in the can,too. Not as good as fresh. Anyway, just to have some taste from home, puwede na rin kahit de lata! Guinatang langka with shrimps! yum yum yum
February 27th, 2008ummmm… one of my favorite… i love it wth a pinch of pork…nd shrimp bagoong wth sili…
June 12th, 2008Hi, ginataang langka is one of my favorite langka dishes! Instead of tinapa, my Dad cooks it with spicy sardines in tomato sauce to give a peachy-pinkish color. It looks and tastes a lot better too!
June 12th, 2008