Recipe: Bicol Express

I've been craving for something spicy and luckily I had all the ingredients in the house to cook for this Filipino dish. This is a fave dish way back home popularized in the Bicol region.

Bicol Express (Bikol: Sinilihan) is a popular Filipino dish which originated in the district of Malate,Manila but made in traditional Bicolano style. It is a stew made from long chilies (siling labuyo in Tagalog, lada panjang in Malay/Indonesian), coconut milk, shrimp paste or stockfish, onion, pork, and garlic. It is said to have evolved from gulay na may lada, another Bicolano dish which is nowadays also presented as one of the many variants of Bicol Express.

2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup minced onions
1/4 cup ginger fresh, chopped
1/4 kg pork thinly sliced
1 cup fresh hot green peppers (elongated variety, chili or jalapeno), sliced diagonally
1 cup fresh sweet red bell pepper sliced diagonally into 1/4 inch strips
3 tbsp sauteed shrimp paste
1 cup Baguio beans
2 cups coconut milk
Salt to taste

In a cooking pan, heat cooking oil and brown sliced pork for a few minutes. Set aside. Saute garlic in hot oil. Add onions and cook until translucent. Stir in fresh ginger, and the sliced cooked pork. Stir continually for 5 minutes. Add sauteed shrimp paste. Stir until the pork is completely covered by the mixture.Pour the coconut cream and add the sliced hot green and red peppers. Cook continuously until meat is tender and the coconut milk thickened. Add salt if necessary. Note: You can add up more chili and pepper as desired.