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Bicol Express is a famous dish in Philippines Bicol Region. The said region’s food is commonly spicy and with coconut milk.

My parents commonly cooked this bicol express recipe with a lot of chili and shrimp paste and less of meat. We have own vegetable garden and have a different variety of chili. My hometown is also on the coast, which is abundant in kinds of seafood. Coconuts are around the house, so we get it fresh from the tree if we need to cook it.

However, living in Finland, there is not a similar case of abundancy in the ingredients. We have a different kind of coconut milk, it is either canned or in a carton. Really, when I was in my hometown, I never knew this product exists here in that form. Of course, it is because they don’t have the coconut trees in here and they have to get it somewhere by importing.

I wanted to cook this bicol express recipe even though my kids doesn’t like this due to strong spices. My husband eat it and yes sometimes my eldest too but not all the time. It depends how spicy the chili we buy. That also varies, sometimes it is very spicy and sometimes it is not.

When I was about to cook this Bicol express, I noticed that I do not have anymore the shrimp paste so I decided to just go on with what I have.

Bicol express recipe ingredients:

• 200g pork
• 3 chili
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 200ml coconut milk
• black pepper
• 1/2 beef stock cube
• 1/2 dl water

Procedure:

• In a medium heat pan, add oil
• Saute onion and garlic
• Add pork and cook until brown
• Then add the chili and mix
• Add the beef stock cube and water
• Mix well and bring to boil
• Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes
• Add coconut milk, black pepper and mix all again
• Lower the heat
• Simmer for another 30 minutes to make it more tender
• Serve hot with rice! Enjoy

You can add more salt if you prefer more salty.

If you like spicy food and want to try something new, try this recipe and let me know by commenting below.

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