Gata
Coconut milk — pressed from grated mature coconut meat, used to add richness to both savory stews and sweet desserts.
Gata is what turns a dish "ginataan" — cooked in coconut milk. It shows up across the Filipino table in both directions: savory dishes like Bicol express and adobo sa gata (a coconut-milk variation on classic adobo), and desserts like maja blanca, bibingka, and ube halaya, where it adds body and a subtle sweetness.
Canned coconut milk is the standard substitute for fresh-pressed gata outside the Philippines, and most recipes are written with canned in mind. Fresh gata, pressed from grated coconut and coconut water, has a lighter, more delicate flavor if you have access to it.
Where you'll taste it
Recipes on Pancit.com that call for gata.
Bibingka
Baked rice cake with salted egg and cheese, wrapped in banana leaf — the taste of Christmas season.
Bicol Express
Pork belly simmered in coconut milk with chilies and shrimp paste.
Dinuguan
Pork simmered in a savory, vinegar-tinged pork blood stew with chilies.
Maja Blanca
A silky coconut milk pudding studded with sweet corn, topped with toasted latik.
Puto
Soft, fluffy steamed rice cakes — the everyday companion to pancit and dinuguan.
Sapin-Sapin
Vividly layered glutinous rice cake in purple, yellow, and white, topped with coconut curds.
Ube Halaya
Sweet, vividly purple ube yam jam cooked slow with coconut and condensed milk.
Laing
Dried taro leaves simmered slowly in coconut milk with chilies and shrimp paste until rich and creamy.
Suman
Glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed until sticky and rich.
Ginataang Bilo-Bilo
Sweet potato, saba banana, and jackfruit simmered in coconut milk with chewy glutinous rice balls.
Biko
Glutinous rice cooked into a sticky caramel of coconut milk and brown sugar, topped with toasted latik.
Cassava Cake
Grated cassava baked in coconut milk and condensed milk, finished with a golden custard topping.