LAING

Laing

LAING

#SIAintheKitchen

If there’s one dish I miss from being in the Philippines, it would be laing.

Laing, a dish from the Bicol province, consists of taro leaves which are cooked in coconut milk and shrimp paste. It’s a very creamy and rich dish and that has this distinct, pungent flavour which comes from the bagoong, or shrimp paste. It is very fragrant - even moreso than fish sauce - and very unique in flavour. It makes for an excellent side dish or, if you’re making this the traditional way with pork, can even be gobbled uo as a main. I made my version vegetarian with no pork.

A couple things to note:

  • Dried taro leaves expand…A LOT. It might not seem like we’re using a lot of the taro leaves in this dish, but it doubles up in size pretty quickly so keep that fact in mind.

  • It might look like it’s done, but it’s not. You’ll want to cook this dish for a long time because if you don’t, taro leaves have this itchy effect that happens with your mouth if it’s not fully cooked.

  • Do not stir! A lot of the recipes I looked at urged on not stirring the laing in the first 30 minutes. Not sure why but just don’t do it!

Let’s get cooking!

LAING - serves 4 - 6

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil

  • 1 yellow onion, diced

  • 1 thumb of ginger, peeled and minced

  • 5 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 cup dried taro leaves

  • 6 cups coconut milk

  • 1/4 cup bagoong (shrimp paste)

  • 4 fresh red chilies

  1. In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.

  2. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

  3. Stir in the bagoong and mix until well-combined.

  4. Add in the coconut milk and when the bubbles form, add in the taro leaves and lower to a simmer. Press down the taro leaves and do not touch for 30 minutes.

  5. Add in chilies and then simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve with white rice.

ASIAN, GLUTEN-FREE, PLANT-BASED, FILIPINOStephanie Sialaing, laing recipe, vegetarian filipino food, filipino food, filipino recipes