Fiery Stew · Coconut & Chili Pork
Bicol Express
Photo: Raymund Macaalay / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The name was coined in Manila, not Bicol — though Bicolanos point out that similar chili-and-coconut pork dishes such as sinilihan were cooked in the region long before the name existed.
Pork is simmered low in thick coconut milk with shrimp paste, garlic, and a heavy dose of long green and red chilies until the sauce reduces into a rich, fiery coating. It's ladled hot over rice at carinderias and food stalls across the country, though it hits hardest at stalls in its namesake region.
Why it's made this way: Cely Kalaw is credited with naming the dish at her Manila restaurant in the late 1960s after the Philippine National Railways train to Bicol, borrowing the region's name and its reputation for chili-heavy cooking.
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