Bicol Express Recipe for Fiery Hot Weeknight Dinner

If you’re looking for spicy Filipino dish, this is the one.

Bicol Express is easily the spicy dish most familiar to Filipinos, at least in the island of Luzon, but with equally piquant controversy surrounding its history. After all, it’s easy to assume that this peppered comfort food originated from the Bicol region about 300 kilometers south of Manila. The name itself refers to the original American-era passenger train service that plied the Manila-Bicol route. Before it was known as Bicol Express, a vegetable variant of the dish without the meat called “gulay na may lada” (taro leaves in coconut cream with chili) is said to be sold by peddlers that would board the train when it made temporary stops in the provinces of the region.

The local folks maintain this narrative as a more accurate history than the contemporary version that explains the popularization of the dish in Manila and elsewhere. While it is true that the Bicol Express is inspired by gulay na lada, the innovation is credited to Cecilia “Tita Cely” Villanueva Kalaw who opened a restaurant in the 1960s along Oregon Street in the Malate district of Manila. The restaurant owner told in interviews that she came up with the recipe because folks in Manila couldn’t tolerate the spiciness of the original vegetable variant (now called laing or pinangat). She recounted that her family moved from Laguna province to Naga, Albay when she was a child. She adapted to Bicol's penchant for eye-watering spicy dishes and eventually learned the creamy and peppery profile of the local culinary tradition. Tita Cely aptly named the dish Bicol Express as she fondly remembered the train service that passed their house.

Today, the Bicol Express is made less spicy by adding generous amounts of rich coconut cream seasoned with shrimp paste and garnished with sliced green chili peppers. It might still put off anybody who is not a fan of flames shooting through their nostrils. For people who are less enthusiastic about the idea of benign masochism, this recipe from Foxy Folksy gives you option to use finger chilies that rank lower in the Scoville Heat Scale. You can also add more coconut cream for mildly sweet taste while keeping the authentic spirit of this spicy Filipino dish. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 pound pork belly, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 pcs green chili, chopped
• 2 pcs siling labuyo (green), chopped (optional or adjust to preference)
• 1 ½ tbsp bagoong (shrimp paste)
• 1 ½ cup coconut milk
• salt

Get these ingredients from My Tindahan here.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a skillet, stir fry pork over medium-high heat until lightly browned.
2. Add the garlic and onion. Cook until limp and aromatic. Add the shrimp paste and mix well. Cook for another minute.
3. Add coconut milk and chili then turn heat to low. Let it simmer for several minutes until pork is tender, sauce begins to thicken, and a bit of oil comes to surface.
4. Season with salt if desired.

Photo from Foxy Folksy website.