Laing

Ingredients

• 60 g dried taro leaves (dahon ng gabi), about 6 loosely packed cups
• 800 ml coconut milk
• 400 ml thick coconut cream
• 200 g pork belly, cut into 1 cm dice
• 2 tbsp bagoong alamang (shrimp paste)
• 40 g fresh ginger, cut into matchsticks
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 8 siling haba (long green chillies), left whole
• 4 siling labuyo, chopped
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper

Before you cook

• Check the dried taro leaves and tear out any thick stems, which stay tough however long they cook.
• Cut the pork belly into small dice so it renders quickly.
• Cut the ginger into fine matchsticks and crush the garlic cloves flat.
• Have the coconut cream measured separately from the coconut milk; they go in at different moments.

Steps

1. Put the diced pork belly in a wide heavy pot over medium heat and let it render for 6 to 8 minutes until the fat runs and the edges brown.
2. Add the ginger, garlic and onion and fry them in the pork fat for 4 minutes until soft and fragrant.
3. Stir in the shrimp paste and cook it for 2 minutes, until it darkens and smells toasty rather than raw.
4. Pour in the 800 ml of coconut milk and bring it to a gentle simmer.
5. Simmer the pork uncovered for 15 minutes so it starts to soften.
6. Pile the dried taro leaves on top of the liquid and press them down just enough to submerge them.
7. Leave the pot completely alone, uncovered, at a bare simmer for 30 minutes, and do not stir it at any point.
8. Check that the leaves have collapsed and darkened to near-black and the liquid has reduced by about half.
9. Now stir the leaves through the sauce for the first time, breaking up any remaining clumps.
10. Pour in the coconut cream and add the whole long chillies and the chopped labuyo.
11. Simmer for another 10 to 12 minutes until the sauce thickens and beads of clear coconut oil rise to the surface.
12. Season with the fish sauce and cracked pepper, then taste and add more chilli if it is not yet biting.
13. Rest the laing off the heat for 5 minutes before serving with plenty of hot rice.