Laing Ng Buhay Ko

By: Vicente Perez

 

VICENTE PEREZ is a seasoned concert promoter, director and producer of some of the biggest Filipino live performances all over the US. He is also the creative director for Philippine Times of Southern Nevada and food enthusiast.He is a new local in Las Vegas after residing several decades in Southern California. Lately , he has discovered a new passion – cooking Filipino dishes. Here in Via Times, he wants to share this new-found passion with his delightful recipes.

Laing or Coconut simmered taro leaves with pork cutlets and shrimps with a lot of sili is a signature Bicol dish that is cooked with much patience and care.

Patience becuase it takes a while to cook and care because you gotta check it from time to time.

Laing is my childhood in the Bicolandia province. The fragrant smell of simmered taro in boiling coconut and the salty taste of the bagoong and dried fi sh brings me back to childhood days when the help tells me not to be noisy otherwise the laing will have an itchy effect in our throats .

I believe it then so I will always be very quiet when laing is being cooked .

Laing is Bicol and Bicol is Laing. This dish is synonymous to the Bicol culture –very rustic and conservative but spicy and fi ery inside.

Visit me at my Facebook page ( Bicol Food Trip).

Here is my own version of the famous LAING.

1 bag of taro leaves (you can buy from Island Pacific or Seafood City)
5 cups of coconut milk
1 can of Mae Ploi coconut cream
1/4 of pork cutlets
1/4 bound of shelled shrimp
4 chile serrano( 2 pcs cut 2 pcs not cut)
3 tablespoon of Bagoong
1 onion sliced and minced
4 cloves of garlic crushed
1 fi nger of ginger root (luya ) sliced
2 pcs of dried fi sh deboned ( optional)
2 tbs of patis
Recipe
1. First order of the day is to make the pork tender. Sautee onions, garlic, ginger for 3 to 5 mins.
2. Sautee Pork with the aromatics – onion, garlic, ginger for another 5to 7 minutes and make the sides a bit brown.
3.Pour 2 cups of coconut milk then let pork go tender for 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Add 3 spoons of bagoong and 4 pieces of chili serrano .Optional throw some deboned dired fi sh.
5. Add the bag of taro leaves.
6.Let it simmer for 40 to 50 minutes in low fi re till oil is coming out of the mix.
7Add the can of coconut cream . Then let it cook in high fi re 10 minutes.
8, Season with 2 tbsp of patis.