Ginataang Kuhol or Snails

Ingredients:

• 20-30 kuhol or snails
• 2 coconuts, grated, extract
• 1 cup thick cream (1st Extract)
• 2 cups thin cream (2nd Extract)
• 3-4 green, long pepper
• 1 med. sized onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 2 cups kangkong leaves & stalks
• 1 tsp vetsin
• salt to taste

Procedures:

Soak kuhol in water for 2-3 hours. Wash and drain. Break tail-end of snails (simply by tapping with the handle of a knife). Wash again and drain. Set aside. In a pan, put in thin cream, add garlic, ginger, onion, and green pepper. Bring to a boil. Add snail and kangkong leaves and stalks. Season with salt and vetsin. When kangkong is half cooked, add thick cream. Simmer for 10 minutes. Kalabasa flowers and young leaves are a good substitute to kangkong.

Nutritional Information:

Snail is reared in commercial farms for its meat and shell. Snail meat is a delicacy in Asian cuisine, Japanese and Chinese in particular. The French delight escargot as an appetizer. where as in the Americas and Australia, where it is commonly also called abalone, it is consumed also as main meal. In Africa, such as Nigeria and South Africa, land snail called Giant African Snail is also a traditional food. Snail recipes vary from cuisine to cuisine. Studies on the nutritional value of snail have reported that snail is high in protein but low in fat contents. It is estimated that snail is 15% protein, 2.4% fat and about 80% water. This makes snail healthy alternative food for people with high protein low fat diet requirements. Besides, snail is high in health benefiting essential fatty acids such as linoleic acids and linolenic acids. A study on a snail species in Brazil estimated that 75% of the fat in snail is unsaturated fatty acids. That is 57% polyunsaturated fatty acids, 15.5% of monounsaturated fatty acids, and 23.25% of saturated fatty acids.

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