Ginataang kuhol

River snails purged for two days, then simmered in coconut milk with taro leaves.

Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains shellfish, shrimp paste.

Ingredients

• 1 kg river snails, in their shells
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 150 g taro leaves, torn
• 60 g fresh ginger, in matchsticks
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons shrimp paste
• 6 siling labuyo
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 0.5 teaspoon black pepper

Method

1. PURGED FOR TWO DAYS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, in a bucket of clean water changed three times a day. River snails eat mud and that mud is still inside them when you buy them. Skip the purge and the whole pot is gritty, and nothing later in the recipe can take it out.
2. Scrub the shells with a brush on the last change of water.
3. SNIP THE TIP OFF each shell with pliers or strong scissors -- the pointed closed end. That gives two openings, and you suck from one end so the meat comes out of the other. Without it, the meat will not come out at all.
4. Rinse once more after snipping. Some grit comes out at this stage and better now than in the sauce.
5. Fry the ginger, garlic and onion in the oil, 4 minutes. Shrimp paste in, pressed against the pan, 2 minutes until it darkens.
6. Snails in, turned over in the pan 3 minutes.
7. Coconut milk in. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes.
8. Taro leaves in and pushed under. DO NOT STIR for the first 10 minutes of their cooking -- stirred while raw, taro leaves make the whole dish itch the throat. 15 minutes in all until they are completely collapsed and dark.
9. Chillies and pepper in at the end. Serve with toothpicks and a bowl for the shells.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes