FOODlog #174: Filipino Bicol Express

2 weeks ago we had our Filipino colleague cook for us lunch. He made some delicious Filipino food that we had with rice. The Filipino and Malaysian cuisine has some similarities in the sense we have a lot of the same sort of ingredients just combined slightly differently but we do enjoy one another's cooking.

The highlight of the meal was a pork belly dish called 'Bicol Express'. Its pork belly cooked with ginger green chilies and coconut milk. It starts with stir frying slices on ginger until they are fragrant then the pork belly slices are added to brown.

Water is then added and the dish is stewed for about an hour until tender. Coconut milk is then added and the stew seasoned to taste. The dish taste very similar to a dish my Mum cooks which also uses ginger but just without the coconut milk. It tasted so good especially when eaten with rice.

Another dish he cooked was stir fried water spinach (kangkung) chilies and topped with fried anchovies. It tasted like what we would cook here in Malaysia. A very common but delicious dish.

He also cooked an egg dish was like scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms and garnished with a sprinkle of fresh spring onions. And also a 4th dish which was sambal with onions and petai (stinky beans). He said he was very happy that day so he cooked us lots of delicious food.

Really enjoyed the lunch meal cooked by him and ate till we were all fully stuffed!