Filipino Cooking: Laing or Taro Leaves in Coconut Milk #FilipinoFood, #FilipinoCooking

LAING is a Filipino native dish from Bicol province, Northern Philippines. Since I was born and raised in Cebu, Southern Philippines, the dish was alien to me until I visited Northern Philippines. Laing is a creamy vegetable dish that reminds me of spinach. It's very flavorful and rich.

Here is a recipe and comments from my friend Maria Ciocon about the making of Laing.



Ingredients:

20 pieces gabi leaves, dried and shredded

1/2 kilo pork belly, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small ginger, minced

2 large onions, chopped

5 jalapeno pepper, sliced

1 cup coconut cream (kakang gata)

2 cups coconut milk (gata)

1/4 cup shrimp bagoong

1/2 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (MSG)

1 teaspoon salt

Prodecure:
Mix the taro leaves, pork, garlic, ginger, onions. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add jalapenos, bagoong, and salt to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the coconut cream and cook until the oil comes out of the cream.

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Here are Maria Ciocon's comments about how she makes Laing (she makes the best Laing I've ever had):

Your taro or gabi leaves should really be dry because if not your throat will get itchy.

Cut gabi leaves. Your sahog will be shrimps, dried fish (daing), pieces of pork with fat to make it tasty. Don’t use beef, it will not give it flavor. Slivers of ginger and little garlic; onions.

1 can of coconut milk or two depending on amount of gabi leaves
Bagoong (shrimp paste)

chili -- small red or green ones, depending on how hot or spicy you want it to be.

1. saute your ginger , garlic, onions

2. add your pork, shrimp or daing

3. add your leaves

4. pour your coconut milk, not the top or creamy portion. (do not dilute your coconut milk with water)

5. season with bagoong, and when leaves are wilted or look more or less like pureed, add creamy portion of coconut milk 

6. when ready to serve add chili; if you put the chilis in early the Laing will really be spicy

Your dish should look like spinach dip with a little oil from coconut oil, it shouldn’t look watery.

Since this is a poor man’s dish, you can just put all of the above together, let it boil. When creamy (like a spinach dip) add your creamy part of the coconut milk. Add or season with bagoong and add your chilis.

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Cooking with Cecilia - Beef Bourguignon 
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Tags: Filipino cooking, food, recipe, laing, taro, gabi

This is all for now,
Cecilia