Ginataang Baka – Beef in Coconut Milk with Green Beans and Spinach

Ginataang Baka is a rich and flavorful dish that I make for my family every now and then. We love to have it for lunch along with rice. I want mine super spicy, so I have my own saucer on the side with crushed fresh chili peppers and patis. Wow! Ang Sarap! (It is delicious!)

This version of ginataang baka makes use of long green beans and spinach. The green beans are also referred to as Baguio beans in the Philippines. It refers to the place where these were grown and harvested. You can also use snake beans or sitaw for this recipe. As for the greens, spinach is good, and so are fresh malunggay leaves.

I love my dish to have enough heat in it. This is the reason why I am using Thai chili peppers for this recipe. You may or may not use this ingredient. It really depends on your tolerance to heat. However, if you love the heat and more spice to your ginataang baka, I suggest to have an extra sauce on the side with crushed pepper and the condiment of your choice so that you can adjust the taste before you eat. It is always a good idea to keep the spice level of the dish manageable enough to the person with the lowest tolerance to heat that you will be sharing it with.

Note that it can take a while to tenderize the beef. It took me around 1 ½ hours to get mine tender. You can use a pressure cooker to speed-up the process. 25 to 30 minutes should be enough to make the beef tender when pressure cooked. This dish has also a pork counterpart in the form of pork ginataan.

Also, feel free to substitute bagoong alamang for patis. Your dish will still taste great. I will taste more like Beef Bicol Express.

Try this Ginataang Baka Recipe. Let me know what you think.

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5 from 3 votes

Ginataang Baka – Beef in Coconut Milk with Green Beans and Spinach

This is a recipe for Ginataang Baka – Beef in Coconut Milk with Green Beans and Spinach

Course Beef

Cuisine Filipino

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Servings 5

Author Vanjo Merano

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Beef chuck paypay, cubed
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 ½ cups long green beans cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1 medium red onion chopped
• 3 thumbs ginger sliced into thin strips
• 5 to 10 pieces Thai chili pepper
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 3 to 4 tablespoons fish sauce patis
• 4 cloves garlic chopped
• 4 to 6 cups water
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil

Instructions

• Heat oil on a cooking pot.
• Saute onion, garlic and ginger.
• Once the onion becomes soft, saute beef until it turns light brown.
• Pour coconut milk and add water. Stir. Cover the pot and continue to cook between low to medium heat for 1 hour.
• Add chili peppers. Cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour until the beef gets tender.
• Add green beans. Cover the pot and cook for 3 minutes.
• Season with fish sauce and ground black pepper.
• Put the spinach into the pot and cook for 1 minute.
• Transfer to a serving plate. Serve.
• Share and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 5g

Watch the Video on How to Cook Ginataang Baka