Melissa Makes Crab in Coconut Milk (Ginataang Alimasag)

[Producer] Just do it again, just like that.

Just do that a little.

[laughs]

It's like a boomerang. [laughs]

[upbeat music]

[clapperboard clicks]

[laughs]

Hi, I'm Melissa Miranda,

and today, we're gonna be cooking ginataang alimasag,

which is a coconut crab dish.

Ginataang alimasag is one of my childhood favorite dishes.

It's a dish that my dad cooked for me growing up.

Here in the Pacific Northwest,

we're really, really fortunate

to have access to Dungeness crab.

It's way easier to eat,

and it produces a lot of meat,

and it's just really sweet and delicious.

Well, hey, you know,

the gang back at BA was telling me that

you are, you're big into crabs,

and you'll be doing a crab dish,

a video of a crab dish.

I grew up crabbing on the East Coast,

you know, with blue claw crabs.

Much different.

Now, I'm assuming you're gonna be using Dungeness?

Yes, the best.

[Brad] Yeah.

No, just kidding. [laughs]

No, no, you don't have to be kidding.

It is, it probably is the best crab.

Maybe I'll make it out there

and we can go crabbing or something.

Yup.

That'd be great.

So when I have the finished product,

I'm gonna, I'll text you.

Please do! [Melissa laughs]

Yes, oh my god.

Torture me with a picture of that 'cause it sounds amazing.

I'll just be like, [chomps] [laughs]

This is the best thing I've ever had. [laughs]

So the first thing for this dish

is cutting the Delicata squash.

I like to use Delicata squash versus calabaza

because it cooks a lot faster

and it's a lot easier to work with.

I'm gonna start by cutting

the top of the Delicata squash and the bottom.

Toss it to the side,

and then I'm gonna cut it in half,

and then we're gonna take out the seeds.

Just use a spoon,

and just follow the inside.

Delicatas are all seeded.

Super clean, beautiful.

I'm gonna actually cut them into half moons,

into this size.

I have the oven preheated at 425.

I'm gonna toss it with a little bit of canola oil,

just a light little drizzle,

and then I'm gonna hit it with some seasoning salt.

Johnny's Seasoning Salt,

if you can get your hands on it,

is the best.

It's just the perfect balance.

It adds a lot of umami to the dish, too.

Everything's tossed.

I have a

sheet tray right here.

Put all the squash on the baking sheet.

All right, so the Delicata squash is ready to go.

You can kinda see there's a light oil drizzle.

The seasoning salt has covered all the squashes.

I'm gonna pop it in the oven for 15 minutes.

So while the Delicata squash are cooking in the oven,

we're just gonna go ahead and cook the crab.

It's a pretty easy thing to do,

so don't be afraid of the crab.

Okay, I'm gonna just salt the water.

So if you give it a little taste,

you just want to make sure that it's pretty salty.

This is gonna help season your crab, as well.

We have a live crab.

As you can see it moving,

don't be afraid to

touch the crab,

but there is a specific way to actually hold the crab

so you don't get pinched.

The way is to grab it from the back,

and then hold it this way.

You can see it's kinda still alive.

[suspenseful music]

Yeah.

[suspenseful chord]

We're gonna put the crab in the boiling water.

[suspenseful chord]

We're gonna cover it,

and we're gonna cook it for eight to 10 minutes.

I think this is gonna be 10 minutes,

'cause it was a pretty big guy.

Make sure that once you have this crab in,

you actually have a bowl of ice water,

'cause we're gonna put it in an ice water bath

to kinda slow down cooking afterwards.

If you didn't know,

ginataang is actually a method in cooking

in the Filipino cuisine.

Ginataang means to be cooked in coconut milk.

Gata is coconut in Tagalog,

so you can actually cook it in so many different ways.

It doesn't just have to be savory,

or just with crab.

You can cook it with shrimp,

you can have it be a vegetarian dish

with just, like, beans and squash.

For the ginataang recipe,

it's super, super simple.

Bagoong is a fermented shrimp paste.

It's an umami, like, kick to the face.

This with all the other things that we're cooking with

just adds that kind of fish flavor that you really want

that's gonna help accent the crab.

So we're gonna start with five cloves of garlic.

Don't be shy with garlic.

In Filipino cuisine,

we use garlic in everything.

I like to [pounds repeatedly]

smash the garlic 'cause it helps release

a lot of the flavor while you're cooking,

and then afterwards,

we'll give it a nice mince.

Then I'm gonna take just a medium-sized yellow onion

and I'm gonna julienne it.

I'm gonna get my pot going on the stove.

I'm gonna put it on medium-high heat.

[igniter clicks]

So in Filipino cooking,

we always add the garlic first,

which is probably pretty different than what you're used to.

I like to get it nice and golden,

but this helps kind of really bring out the flavor

and the intensity of the garlic in the dish.

[taps utensil]

Then once that's golden brown,

I'm gonna add the yellow onions to the dish.

For the ginger,

just a really easy hack in helping peel ginger

is using this, a small spoon.

It just kinda helps make peeling it

a little easier and less messy,

and I'm gonna cut them into slices,

and then from here,

I'm gonna cut them into matchsticks.

So the onion is starting to,

[pan sizzles]

starting to brown,

and then I'm gonna season it with Johnny's.

It's really, really, really important to season as you go,

'cause you can really build flavors this way as you cook.

There's nothing worse than

trying to season everything at the very end,

'cause everything just becomes salty. [laughs]

I'm gonna wait 'til the onions are translucent

and then I'm gonna add the garlic matchsticks.

And I'm just gonna check on my crab really quick.

[suspenseful music]

So when we put the crab in,

you saw that the color was dark.

Now you can see it's this really vibrant orange.

I'm probably gonna cook it for another two minutes

'cause I think that's what's left on the clock,

and then we're gonna plunge it into the ice water bath.

So the 15-minute timer just went off for the squash,

[buzzer dings]

and I'm just gonna check on it really quick.

One way to test the doneness of the squash

is by taking a fork.

As I pierce the fork,

you can see that it comes in pretty easily,

and so those squashes are done.

I'm gonna set this aside for when we plate the dish.

So the crab is done.

I'm gonna plunge it in the ice water bath

to help slow down the cooking.

[ominous chord]

Crab's out, squash is out.

We're just gonna be focusing on the sauce now.

I'm gonna add the ginger now,

and I'm gonna season it again

with a little bit of seasoning salt,

and then I'm gonna let the ginger

also get nice and toasted, too.

[pan sizzles]

Once everything is a good, golden brown,

that's when I'm gonna add some of the bagoong.

I would eat this by itself,

but not many people would. [laughs]

Once this goes into the pot,

it just fills up the room.

So I'm gonna add about two tablespoons,

and I'm actually gonna

[pan sizzles] saute this in, too,

with everything else,

so that it can really, really coat

the ginger, the garlic, and the onions.

Everything is looking nice and golden brown.

I'm gonna add some coconut milk to this.

I'm gonna add two cans,

and I'm gonna bring it up to a boil,

and then I'm gonna let it simmer.

Add some more seasoning.

I'm gonna give it a little taste

just to see how it's,

where it's at right now.

Mmm, it's delicious.

Okay, the sauce is bubbling.

I think I'm gonna turn it down a little bit,

and this is gonna be the perfect time to add the chilies.

I'm taking the tops off the chilies,

and I'm gonna cut them into rounds.

So I'm gonna take probably like three-quarters of these,

I'm gonna save a little bit for garnish,

and then pop 'em in.

While that's cooking,

I'm actually going to pick some malunggay leaves.

It's a superfood.

It has a little bit of a spicy texture,

similar to horseradish.

This is a leaf that you traditionally

find in the Philippines.

We have Filipino farmers here in Central Washington

that have been,

like, they've been able to produce

a lot of Filipino vegetables

that you can't find normally.

But you kinda just want to start from the base of the leaf

and then pull down,

and then you'll just be able to take all the leaves.

So we're almost there.

You guys can check out the sauce.

[sauce bubbles] It's a beautiful color.

[mellow music]

So cracking crab isn't as scary as it,

[laughs] as it looks.

This is something that I definitely grew up learning,

and each time I eat crab,

I learn a different technique to get faster.

But essentially, we're gonna take the body

and we're gonna separate it from the head.

In this

shell area

is crab fat,

which is liquid gold,

and if you're not eating it,

you should start eating it

because it is probably one of the best things

you'll ever have in your life.

We're actually gonna take the crab fat from here

and actually add it to the sauce

to add more flavor to it.

But a really good trick for

separating the body from the shell of the crab,

you can see this part right here in the crab.

It's kind of like the breastplate.

If you put your finger underneath,

it comes off.

Pull this part up,

and you actually just pop it off,

and then you can take these two pieces off, too.

So now you have a place to place your finger,

and you can just,

you can see how easy it is

to separate the crab

from

the shell.

Now, this is the part that I'm talking about

that is the best part of the crab.

I'm just gonna reserve that here for a second.

This part right here of the crab actually isn't edible.

This part here is,

that's still part of the crab fat that you want to save.

So you can take out this side.

These gills, as well, you can take off.

Kinda save this part here that you're seeing,

that's like the crab fat.

I'm gonna put that in the shell.

These two pieces,

you can go ahead and pull those off, too,

and then now you're just left with

the body of the crab and the legs,

and then this way,

you flip it back over

and just crack it in half.

[crab cracks]

Now you have the two bodies.

So the final part of the sauce

is actually taking this crab fat

and putting it in here.

So I'm just gonna take a spoon

and I'm just gonna spoon this all in.

It's all the way to the corner.

You can tell that the crab is actually cooked really well

when the inside is like a pale yellow and yellow color.

If the crab wasn't cooked well or for long enough,

it's more like this color and,

like, but darker blue.

If that's the color,

then you don't wanna add that crab fat to the sauce,

'cause it's very bitter.

So now that we've got all of

the elements of our dish together,

we've got our roasted squash,

our sauce that's ready to go,

and our cooked crab,

we're actually ready to plate the dish.

So I have a big bowl.

This obviously is a family-style dish.

I probably could eat this by myself,

but it's probably better to share with some people.

I'm gonna put a little bit of sauce

on the bottom of the dish.

Like I said earlier,

this dish is best eaten with your hands,

and so, I don't like to pre-crack the crab for people.

I like people to kind of just really get in.

I'm just gonna layer this dish,

I'm gonna also add some of the squash in here,

just to add some color.

Add more sauce,

and then I'm gonna add the malunggay leaves.

You're probably gonna have people asking you for more sauce,

so you should put a sauce bowl of this on the side. [laughs]

It's just super simple.

It's great for the family,

it's a perfect dish for the holidays,

and that's what my childhood tastes like in a bowl.

I'm gonna add some chilies on top, too,

and then that is it.

I'm gonna take half of the crab,

and I'll put some of this squash on.

Don't be afraid to get messy and use your hands.

Oh my gosh.

[laughs]

[shell cracks]

That's the sign of a real,

a real OG crab eater,

if you crack it with your teeth.

[laughs]

It just works so well,

it's just a little quick click,

and then you can kinda open it more.

[laughs]

So right here,

the crab is cooked perfectly because

it pops right out.

The crab is super sweet.

It's taken on this sauce that we've cooked with it, too.

There's hints of spice from the Thai chilies,

and then the Delicata squash

is just super tender and sweet,

and it plays really nicely

with the savoriness of the sauce that we've made.

You can just see the juice of the crab coming out,

and just adding more flavor to the sauce.

Like, it's cooked so well.

The beauty of not actually cooking

the malunggay leaves in this sauce

is it's got that freshness,

and the raw factor to it,

that adds a spice,

kind of a horseradishy flavor to it,

and it cuts this super rich and fatty sauce that we've made.

The chilies add a nice spice,

and the fact that they weren't cooked for very long

adds a brightness to it, as well.

Same with the Delicata squash.

They're not overcooked.

There's still texture,

there's still flavor and bite to it,

and it is such a perfect kind of, like,

sponge vessel for the sauce, as well.

It's just so delicious,

and this is perfect, like,

once you finish the crab

and you still have this sauce left,

and you have, like, a bowl of steaming white rice,

just scoop that on there

and you can eat that by itself.

Hey Brad,

it's your new best friend, Mel. [laughs]

From the West Coast. [laughs]

[notification hums] [laughs]

Oh my god, amazing.

[laughs]

I hope that you guys get to cook this

with your friends and family.

It's the perfect dish to share with your friends,

at a table.

Bon appetit!

[laughs]

Nailed it!

[upbeat music]

I mean, he swears a lot

and I swear a lot, too,

but I'm being really mindful,

and so I was like,

I'm glad this call wasn't just, like,

F-bombs back and forth. [laughs]

'Cause I feel like, in real life,

that's probably what would happen. [laughs]