Bicol Express

The abundance of coconut trees in our islands is probably one of the reasons why our culinary culture is steeped with dishes using this ingredient. Coconut milk, which can be extracted from coconuts, can be found in native dishes like bringhe, bikol express, guinataan and laing. While coconut milk is now readily available in cans and tetra paks, I still prefer the taste of freshly extracted coconut milk.

I decided to cook bicol express today since it was my turn to cook in the kitchen. It was tough extracting coconut milk. Fortunately, Manang Anita was there to help me. I still had trouble though in slicing the pork since the skin was tough. Manang told me it was probably because the pig was already old. Ouch! I suddenly wished I had once of those super sharp knives available in the TV shopping network, so sharp according to the commercial that it can even slice aluminum. Hahaha…I’m really a sucker for these kinds of commercial.

Anyway, here is my recipe for bicol express:

cooking oil
5 pcs chili pepper (siling amerikano, the big green kind. You may also wish to use siling labuyo. Just adjust the amount according to your
taste/tolerance for heat.)
1 tbsp. salt
4 cups thin coconut milk
1/3 cup ready-made-bagoong ( I used Barrio Fiesta’s bagoong)
½ kilo pork liempo, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium-sized onion, minced
2 cups thick coconut milk

Heat the oil. Brown the garlic before adding the onion. Then add the pork and the bagoong. After 5 minutes, add the salt and thin coconut milk. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chili pepper and cook until half of the liquid has evaporated. Pour in thick coconut milk and continue cooking until oil comes out.

Here’s the finished product.
My husband absolutely loved it! :-)

Tag category: Recipe