Coconut & Chili · Taro Leaf Stew
Laing
Photo: Lokalpedia / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cooks traditionally avoid stirring the pot early — taro leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that make the throat itch, so the leaves are dried and simmered long and undisturbed until the coconut milk reduces.
Dried or fresh taro leaves are simmered slowly in thick coconut milk with shrimp paste, ginger, and labuyo chilies until the leaves turn silky and the sauce clings thick. Bicol's market stalls and carinderias sell it by the scoop over rice, sometimes with shredded pork or dried fish folded in.
Why it's made this way: Bicol's cuisine leans harder on coconut milk and native chilies than any other Filipino region, and laing is the dish most often held up as the clearest expression of that combination.
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