There are some cuisines around the world that are truly known for their mastery of food that contains plenty of heat. We’ve got the likes of Mexican cooking with its love for jalapeños, as well as Korean cooking, which is famous for its use of gochujang. But Filipinos can handle and cook with spice pretty well too! A prime example is the meaty and irresistibly Bicol Express. This uses plenty of chili peppers to bring new life to pork and a coconut stew.
Spicy and Undeniably Filipino Bicol Express
Sautéed slices of pork are mixed with a creamy, delicious coconut milk stew and chili peppers for Bicol Express. This Pinoy dish has grown incredibly famous because of its flavor, which seamlessly marries spiciness and creaminess for the most satisfying pork stew. But you can also expect the outstanding flavor of this Bicol Express recipe to largely come from bagoong or shrimp paste, which is a staple in Philippine cuisine.
The traditional version of this classic dish utilizes balaw, which is salted shrimp fry. But I’d say bagoong also makes for a good substitute, providing some saltiness and a briny quality to your dish.
Ingredients in Bicol Express
The ingredients of Bicol Express are pretty straightforward. Since this is a spicy pork dish, Bicol Express mainly just requires meat, some ingredients for a kick, some others for milkiness, and of course, components to make sure you get everything well-seasoned and cooked all the way through!
- Pork – This dish works great for people in a rush while eating. We cut up the pork into pieces, making them a lot easier to munch on!
- Thai chili pepper – Want to create a dish with a lasting impact? Just go with one that’s delightfully spicy! And we get that flavor from our Thai chili peppers.
- Long green pepper – Provide a mild spiciness as well as some bitterness.
- Shrimp paste – Enhances the flavor of the pork while making our dish a lot more savory!
- Coconut milk – We really want an ingredient like coconut milk that gives our stew a lot more depth while working in perfect harmony with the peppers in terms of taste.
- Water – Don’t forget your water to create the stew.
- Onion – Chopped onions are great for adding flavor to most dishes.
- Garlic – Let’s also get the help of garlic to make the stew a lot richer!
- Cooking oil – This is to get the pork evenly cooked.
- Ground black pepper – And a bit of ground black pepper to cap things off gives you just the right amount of savor!
How to Make Bicol Express
Bicol Express thankfully does not require too much work. In fact, you will need just about an hour to put the ingredients together and boil them so that you end up with the most appetizing, savory pork dish!
1. Sautéing the pork
First, let’s pour the cooking oil into the pan. Then let this get hot before tossing in your onion and garlic. Proceed by sautéing the two, and wait for the onion to soften. Afterwards, you can put your pork inside, and cook this until it turns light brown.
2. Letting the stew boil
We may now incorporate the water and coconut milk, which we will just boil. Put the cover on top, and let this cook for 40 minutes between low to medium heat. As this is going on, feel free to pour more water so that the mixture does not get dry. Then you can stir in your shrimp paste and chili peppers. We will just cook everything with the cover on top for 8 minutes.
3. Adding ground black pepper
For a final touch, we will sprinkle in our ground black pepper. Keep cooking just until we achieve our desired sauce consistency. And that’s all there is to it!
What to Serve with Bicol Express
As this is an ulam or viand, you can’t go wrong with plenty of warm white rice with your Bicol Express! And for me, that’s all you really need to make a complete meal. But you know what else might match your piping hot Bicol Express? A cold, sugary bowl of Binignit or Ginataang Halo-halo! This works perfectly against the spiciness of your pork with its coconut milk, tapioca pearls, and banana.
But if you’re a true fan of spicy food, you can take things up a notch by cooking some Spicy Chicken Adobo alongside this! This is an adobo recipe that’s definitely worth mentioning because of its one of a kind heat. Lastly, if you enjoyed Bicol Express, I’d recommend a similar coconut-y, creamy stew that can actually be made without spiciness. This Ginataang Kalabasa is a satisfyingly nutritious dish that’s sure to get you full!
Comment your questions on Bicol Express below, and I’ll be as quick as I can in answering them!
Bicol Express
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pork, sliced into pieces
- 5 pieces Thai chili pepper
- 2 pieces long green pepper
- ¼ cup shrimp paste
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- 1 piece onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan.3 tablespoons cooking oil
- Saute onion and garlic. Add pork once the onion softens. Cook until light brown.1 piece onion, 5 cloves garlic, 1 ½ pork
- Pour water and coconut milk. Let boil. Cover and cook between low to medium heat for 40 minutes. Add more water if needed.1 cup water, 2 cups coconut milk
- Stir-in the shrimp paste and chili peppers. Continue to cook covered for 8 minutes.¼ cup shrimp paste
- Season with ground black pepper. Continue to cook until sauce reaches desired consistency.Ground black pepper to taste
- Serve with warm rice.
Recipe Notes
- Spice level – This recipe is definitely not for the weak when it comes to heat. Beware of the kick that this stew will come with, but also feel free to lessen the peppers in the recipe if you don’t like your food too spicy.
- Sweetness level – There will be hints of sweetness thanks to our coconut milk! This works really great with the saltiness of the shrimp paste and the spiciness of our Thai chili peppers and long green peppers.
- Coconut milk – Bicol Express is definitely known for its coconut-y taste. But if you really can’t find this in the market, you can try recreating the recipe with other kinds of milk, such as soy milk. Blending some shredded coconut may also be a good alternative. But the best substitute would be coconut cream!
- Pork – Want a healthier alternative? This actually works with white meat too, so you can try creating Bicol Express with chicken. For vegetarians, a great substitute would be tofu!
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