My Oh so spicy-hot Bicol Express, a Filipino Cuisine

The early days of my married life, I was a young housewife who was an expert in boiling water and cooking eggs. Our menu would (most of the time) be: Breakfast: Sunny side-up eggs; Lunch: Scrambled eggs with tomatoes; Dinner: Scrambled eggs with potatoes. Simple as that, they always tasted good, according to my ex-husband. "wink" We both loved to eat, and eating out always was cutting a big slice on our budget.I decided it was time to learn how to cook, ASAP!

Google was not available yet, that time, so I asked around for recipes and experimented cooking and based some ingredients according to how I tasted the food. I came from a family who also loved to eat and dine out, so there! I learned to cook by tasting and testing :) See? It is not that hard to cook. I will show you how to cook, the easy way. No highfalutin words, just easy cooking :)

Our first recipe (not my original recipe) is Bicol Express, which I always cook really spicy-hot. I am not from the Bicol Province, but I love spicy dishes. My kids do, too! 

Spicy-hot Bicol Express

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo pork cut in small cubes
• 3 cups coconut milk ( divided into: 1 cup of 1st extract or "unang piga"; 2 cups of 2nd extract or "pangalawang piga"
• 1/8 k shrimp paste or " bagoong alamang"
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 small ginger cut into strips
• 5 pcs. banana pepper/chili, sliced diagonally
• 5 chili peppers or "siling labuyo" sliced (for really hot and spicy, include the seeds)
• string beans, sliced 2" 
• cooking oil
• fish sauce, salt, pepper,salt (to taste)
• optional: MSG

Let's cook!

• Saute garlic,onions and ginger. Put a little fish sauce or "patis"
• Add pork and saute until it turns brown. Add the shrimp paste and saute a bit more.
• Pour the 2nd coconut milkextract and let boil.
• Add the string beans and banana peppers. 
• Pour the 1st coconut milk extract, simmer.
• Add salt and pepper according to your taste. (optional: add your preferred msg)
• Sprinkle the chili peppers (siling labuyo)
• Stir and cook until pork and string beans are cooked.
• Transfer to a serving dish  and serve with hot rice and ice-cold drinks! Enjoy!