Bicol Express!

     Bicol Express is a very popular dish from the Philippines; it consist mainly of pork, chili, coconut milk and shrimp paste. The way that this dish is cooked depends heavily on the person cooking its preferences. And since my husband has an "allergy" of shrimp paste, which makes him always get this "eeww-yuck" face, I choose to omit it. Also if you don't have a high tolerance for spicy dishes you can lessen the chili and discard the rib and seeds; my recipe is a little spicy.

     Over the years there has been a bit of a confusion regarding this dish, it's a common misconception that the dish comes from the Bicol region of the Philippines; specially because Bicol is a place that is known to have an abundance of coconut and is famous for its spicy cuisine. With a little research I came to know that the dish was named after a passenger train from Manila to the Bicol region and it was created by Cely Kalaw, a native of Laguna who owns a restaurant located in Malate, Manila. She was known for her hot and very spicy dishes! In the 60's Cely Kalaw's restaurant became famous for her Laing (taro) dish, but then started to receive complaints from the customer about how overwhelming the spicy was . So on the same day she invented a new dish that would best compliment the Taro but still needs to be spicy. It was almost lunch time and Cely was about to open the restaurant but she still didn't have an idea as to what the dish should be called. When a train chugged by the restaurant bearing the name, “Bicol Express”, tadaaa! that was the birthday of the dish called Bicol Express!

So here is my own version of Bicol Express! Choo-Choo!

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs pork shoulder (cubed)
• 1 knob ginger (minced)
• 15 pcs Thai chili pepper (chopped)
• 1 large red onion (chopped)
• 6 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure:

In a large pot heat olive oil over high.

1. Saute onions until translucent should take about 5 minutes.
2. Add ginger and garlic for another 3 minutes.
3. Place pork and mix it with the spices. Lower heat to medium and simmer the pork for 35 minutes with the lid on.
4. Mix Thai chilies and coconut milk for another 15 minutes. Turn off heat.
5. Serve and Enjoy!

-Love-