Gising-Gising: Spicy Green Beans in Coconut Milk
Recipe Guy
Spicy Filipino vegetables | Coconut milk | Green beans
Finely sliced green beans make this gising-gising easy to spoon over rice, with browned pork tucked among the pieces. Coconut milk and cream soften the chiles' heat, while bagoong gives the sauce a salty depth that plain coconut milk would lack.
Why make it: This version uses easy green beans instead of harder-to-find wing beans, with heat levels you can tune for the table.
Fresh From the Kitchen
About This Recipe
Give the ground pork a chance to brown before adding the onion, garlic, and ginger. Small crisp spots bring contrast to a dish that will otherwise be creamy. Bagoong cooks into that pork base before the green beans and coconut milk enter the pot.
The beans should stay recognizable, with a little resistance when bitten. Coconut cream thickens the final sauce, and the two kinds of chiles let you control how forceful the heat becomes. Keep the simmer gentle while those last ingredients come together.
Cooking Notes
- Trim and slice the beans before starting the pork. Aim for similarly thin pieces so the whole pan reaches tender-crisp together instead of mixing soft slivers with tough chunks.
- Start at the lower end of the listed Thai chile range. You can add the remaining minced chile during the final simmer without committing the entire pot to maximum heat.
Ingredient Notes
For the beans
Use the pound of green beans with 400 ml coconut milk and the separate 1/2 cup coconut cream. Slice beans evenly so they cook before prolonged reduction makes them too soft.
For heat
Long green chiles bring aroma and mild heat; Thai chiles bring the wake-up call.
Gising-Gising Recipe
This version uses easy green beans instead of harder-to-find wing beans, with heat levels you can tune for the table.
Shopping List
- green beans
- ground pork
- 400 ml unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
- coconut cream
- bagoong
- onion
- garlic
- ginger
- long green chiles
- Thai chiles
- rice
Ingredients
Pork and Aromatics
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 tablespoons bagoong
Beans and Coconut
- 1 pound green beans, finely sliced
- 1 can (400 ml) unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup coconut cream
- 2 long green chiles, sliced
- 1 to 3 Thai chiles, minced
For Serving
- Steamed rice
- Calamansi wedges, optional
- Extra chiles, optional
Instructions
- Brown the ground pork in oil until lightly crisp in spots.
- Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until fragrant.
- Stir in bagoong and let it cook into the pork.
- Add green beans and toss until glossy.
- Pour in all 400 ml coconut milk and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until beans are tender-crisp and ground pork reaches at least 160 F. Check beans early; remove them temporarily if sauce needs longer reduction, returning them at the end.
- Add coconut cream and chiles and simmer until the sauce thickens.
- Taste and adjust with more bagoong or chiles before serving.
Nutrition Estimate
Approximate nutrition for 1 serving (one-quarter of the beans and pork). Includes all sauce and oil, assuming 32 g sauteed shrimp paste. Rice, citrus and extra chiles are excluded; shrimp-paste brands especially affect sodium. Calculated from published food data, not laboratory tested; brands and portions vary.
Tips For The Best Gising-Gising
- Slice beans small: Small pieces make the dish spoonable over rice.
- Keep some crunch: Do not cook the beans until dull and soft.
- Simmer coconut gently: A hard boil can make the sauce separate.
- Control the chiles: Add Thai chiles in stages if your table has mixed heat tolerance.
How To Serve And Store
Serve hot with rice as a main vegetable dish or beside fried fish. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Common Questions
Can I make it without pork?
Yes. Use mushrooms, tofu crumbles, or more beans.
Can I use wing beans?
Yes. Slice them thinly and cook the same way.
Is bagoong required?
It gives the signature salty depth, but you can use fish sauce in a pinch.
Can I make it mild?
Use only long green chiles and skip Thai chiles.
How can I keep the green beans from becoming mushy?
Slice them consistently and check them as the coconut milk simmers. They should still have some bite before the coconut cream and chiles go in, because they continue cooking while the sauce finishes thickening.
Should I add more bagoong while the coconut sauce reduces?
Wait until the sauce is close to its finished consistency. The initial bagoong is already in the pork, and reduction concentrates it. Adding more too early can make the finished dish saltier than you intended.
How spicy should gising-gising be before it earns the name? Share your family version or testing notes in the comments.
Recipe inspiration and technique reference: Filipino home-cooking source research from Panlasang Pinoy, Kawaling Pinoy, and Filipino-American cooking sources in the site roadmap.
Technique and food-safety references: kawalingpinoy.com; biona.co.uk; fsis.usda.gov.
