Laing

Dried taro leaves simmered in coconut milk and deliberately not stirred.

Pork, Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains bagoong, a fermented fish or shrimp paste, pork, shellfish, shrimp paste.

Ingredients

• 80 g dried taro leaves
• 800 ml coconut milk
• 200 ml coconut cream
• 200 g pork belly, in small dice
• 2 tablespoons bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste)
• 8 garlic cloves and 1 onion, chopped
• a thumb of ginger, julienned
• 6 bird's eye chillies
• 2 long green chillies

Method

1. USE DRIED TARO LEAVES, not fresh. Dried is what laing is made from and the drying is part of why it works.
2. Put the coconut milk, pork, garlic, onion, ginger and shrimp paste in a pot and bring it to a simmer.
3. LAY THE DRIED LEAVES ON TOP AND PUSH THEM UNDER ONCE. THEN DO NOT STIR IT AT ALL for 40 minutes.
4. This is the instruction that matters and it is the opposite of normal cooking. Taro leaves carry calcium oxalate, and agitating them before they have cooked through leaves the dish itchy in the throat. Left alone in simmering coconut milk they break down safely.
5. Simmer uncovered until the leaves have collapsed and the oil has begun to separate out of the coconut milk.
6. Only now stir, gently, and add the chillies and the coconut cream for a final 10 minutes.
7. It should end dark, thick and oily rather than soupy. No salt — the bagoong is the seasoning.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes