Bicol express

Filipino pork in coconut milk and siling labuyo: the fiery pride of the Bicol region

Origin: Philippines (Bicol region)

From the journey of Chilli Pepper.

Bicol Express is the Philippines' most famous chilli dish, a stew of pork (often with shrimp paste) cooked in coconut milk with an almost shocking quantity of siling labuyo (Filipino bird's eye chilli), producing a dish simultaneously fiery and creamy, rich and piercing. The Bicol region of Luzon is renowned throughout the Philippines for its love of chilli heat and coconut milk: where most Filipino cooking is mild, Bicolano cooking defines itself by heat. The chilli pepper arrived in the Philippines via the Spanish Manila Galleon trade, which began in 1565 and connected Acapulco, Mexico, directly to Manila, the first trans-Pacific trade route in history. The Manila Galleons carried silver from the Americas to Asia and returned with spices, silk, and porcelain; but along this route the chilli pepper also made its westward journey from Mexico to the Philippines, arriving simultaneously from the opposite direction as the Portuguese chilli came from India. Bicol Express the dish name is itself a mid-20th century creation (named after the express train that runs between Manila and Bicol), but the cooking style of chilli and coconut milk in Bicolano cooking is centuries old. It is the supreme example of the Spanish Pacific route's culinary legacy.

Ingredients

Protein

  • 600 g pork belly, cut into 3cm cubes (or pork shoulder)

Chilli

  • 10 siling labuyo chillies (Filipino bird's eye) or Thai bird's eye chillies, roughly chopped
  • 3 long green or red chillies (siling haba), sliced

Liquid

  • 400 ml coconut milk (full-fat)
  • 200 ml coconut cream

Umami

  • 2 tbsp bagoong (Filipino shrimp paste): or substitute with 2 tsp shrimp paste

Base

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 cm fresh ginger, julienned

Fat

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp fish sauce (patis), or to taste
  • 0.5 tsp sugar

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a wok or wide pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
  2. Add the shrimp paste (bagoong). Stir and fry for 2 minutes until fragrant. The shrimp paste is powerfully aromatic: it will smell pungent at first but mellows into a deep, savoury background.
  3. Add the pork belly. Fry over high heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until the pork pieces are browned on the edges.
  4. Add the coconut milk and all the chillies. Bring to a simmer. Season with fish sauce and sugar.
  5. Simmer over medium heat, uncovered, for 25–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pork is tender and the coconut milk has reduced and thickened into a creamy, orange-tinged sauce.
  6. Add the coconut cream in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Stir through. The sauce should coat the pork and be thick and glossy.
  7. Taste: the dish should be simultaneously rich (coconut), salty (shrimp paste, fish sauce), and aggressively hot. Serve with steamed white rice, which is the essential cooling counterpoint.

Notes

Bicol Express is genuinely very hot, the siling labuyo is the hottest chilli grown in the Philippines (comparable to Thai bird's eye). If you cannot tolerate high heat, reduce the quantity of bird's eye chillies dramatically. The long green chillies (siling haba) are milder and can be used in greater quantity without increasing heat significantly. Bagoong (Filipino shrimp paste) is available in Asian food shops; it is different from Thai or Malaysian shrimp paste, it is saltier and less fermented. The dish is better the next day.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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