Gising-Gising

Gising- Gising

Welcome back to my blog! In my previous blog post, I made Fresh Lumpia which showcases the Filipino cooking style of harmonizing various flavors into one. For this blog post, I chose to make Gising-Gising. As described by the editor-in-chief of Timpla: "For Gising-Gising, the dominant flavor that everyone look for is the coconut milk, subtly accentuated by the ginger and the seasonings. These serve as the backdrop for your vegetables that can be enjoyed any time of the week" (Ozaeta 58). Meat cooked with coconut milk may seem weird, though this isn't unusual in the Philippines. There, coconut milk is used in numerous ways, be it for an appetizer, a main course dish, or a dessert. This is my first time to cook a meat dish, and I think this is a nice dish to begin with.

Let's start cooking!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon of garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 piece of red onion, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon of ginger, sliced
• 100 grams of ground pork
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 400 grams of string beans, sliced into thin rounds
• 1/2 piece of finger chili, sliced
• 1 cup of coconut milk

Procedure:
1. Heat cooking oil in a sauté pan, and sauté the garlic, onion, and ginger.
2. Add ground pork, and season with the soy sauce.
3. Cover and let meat simmer until done, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the string beans, finger chili, and the coconut milk.
5. Let the coconut milk boil for about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

(Ozaeta 58)

     

When I first read the procedure, I thought it was easy to cook it. I was wrong, it was difficult. Proper timing is critical when cooking it. One should make sure that the ground pork was thoroughly cook, without overcooking the vegetables and the coconut milk. Ozaeta's description of the Gising-Gising made me pay attention to the coconut milk, because of that I kind of neglected the vegetables which resulted to them being overcooked. I may have overcooked the vegetables slightly, but it still tasted good. The different flavors complemented each other. The flavor of the coconut milk was highlighted without overpowering the flavors of the other ingredients. This is my first time cooking this dish and I could say that it isn't a bad start at all.

   

If fresh lumpia embodies the Filipino value of patience, gising-gising exhibits the creativity of Filipinos. This dish demonstrates that not even a set of weird ingredients can hinder you to create a delicious dish. It just shows how limitless the world of flavors can be, and I hope to continue to explore newer kinds of flavors in my next blog post!

How about you? Have you ever eaten something that you didn't expect to taste good?

Works Cited:

Fontanilla, Marilen, and Anne Marie Ozaeta, eds. Timpla. First Edition ed. Makati City: Hinge Inquirer Publications, 2010. Print.