Creamy Bicol Express with Green Beans

Creamy Bicol Express with Green Beans. There are countless versions of Bicol Express out there, I also do have one recipe in the archives that uses jalapeno chilies. Click the link Bicol Express, Gulay na Lada should you be interested to see how I cooked it. Today I would like to share how I made this Creamy Bicol Express, yes I added some green beans for a reason. Originally I intended to cook this dish using a lot of Australian long green and /or red chili, I always thought that the long chili varieties here are spicy mild. The Australian long green and red chilies are spicy mild alright, but if used in large quantities the hotness is compounded and it would be intolerable to most or average Pinoy.

I wanted my Bicol Express with lots of greens so instead of using a lot of chilies which would make the dish super spicy, I opted to use green beans for a milder dish. Using green beans or similar vegetables with ginataang baboy is not new. Gising-gising would be an example of a similar dish that uses a lot of chopped vegetables to give color and added flavour to otherwise monotone color of a the ginataan dish. Click the links below to check out the recipes of my versions of gising-gising.

Ginataang Sigarilyas, Gising Gising Style
Gising Gising, Spicy Green Beans with Coconut Milk
Asparagus with Coconut Milk, Pinoy Gising Gising Style

To reduce the hotness of the green chilies I would suggest that the seeds be scraped out then soak and rinsed the chopped chilies with hot water, this process should be done several times to for maximum result. Here is the recipe of my version of Creamy Bicol Express with Green Beans.

Ingredients:

1 kilo pork, thinly sliced into strips or cubes
5-8 pcs. long green and/or red chili. chopped, qty. optional
1 bunch green beans, trimmed, cut into 1” lengths
1 small bunch spring onion, chopped
2-3 tbsp. bagoong alamang
2 big cans coconut milk
1/2 head garlic, chopped
1 large size onion, chopped
2 thumb size ginger, thinly sliced into strips
1/4 cup fish sauce
salt and pepper
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a sauce pan sauté garlic, ginger and onion until fragrant. Add in the pork stir cook for 3 to 5 minutes, then add in the fish sauce and shrimp paste and continue to stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water, 1 1/2 can of the coconut milk, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to an oily sauce, stirring occasionally to prevent the coconut milk from curdling. Now add in the remaining coconut milk, green beans, green and red chili, continue to cook for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the vegetables are just cooked, correct saltiness if required, add in the spring onions, cook for another 1/2 minute. Serve hot with a lot of rice.