Laing Recipe – Just like with protein, Filipino cuisine has made plenty of different dishes with different parts of various vegetables. One of these vegetables is taro. Taro, known as gabi, abi, or avi in the Philippines, is a readily available vegetable throughout the country. It thrives in marshland and swamps, making it one of the most commonly used vegetables in Filipino cuisine. Every part of the taro plant – leaves, stems, and corms – is edible and used in various local dishes.
It is a root vegetable that has a light, slightly sweet, and nutty flavor that goes well with milk, sugar, and black tea to make milk tea. It tastes like sweet potato but with a lighter flavor and subtle vanilla undertones.
One of the most popular dishes to make with taro in Filipino cuisine is Laing. Laing is a tasty and popular Filipino dish that originated from the Bicol Region. It is made with shredded or whole taro leaves cooked with meat or seafood in thick coconut milk with various spices such as chili, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, ginger, and shrimp paste. Locals call it pinangat, while others refer to it as ginataang laing. It is usually served as a vegetable side dish to complement meat or fish dishes. One Laing Recipe you can try as a beginner is as follows:
Laing
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dried gabi leaves
- 2 lemongrass stalks
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 thumb-size ginger peeled and minced
- 1 pound pork belly diced
- pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
- 4 cups coconut milk
- 8 Thai chili peppers chopped
- 1 cup coconut cream
- salt to taste
Instructions
- First, take the dried leaves and shred them into pieces. Be sure to check for any stray leaves that might have gotten mixed in during the drying process and toss them out.
- Next, remove the dark green layers of the lemongrass until you get to the lighter green part. Use the back of a knife to pound the ends of the stalks to release the flavor, then chop them up.
- Heat some oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and cook until they’re softened and smell delicious.
- Add the pork and cook until it’s lightly browned. Sprinkle in some pepper to taste.
- Now it’s time to add the shrimp paste and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour in the coconut milk and bring it to a simmer.
- Add the lemongrass and chili peppers, then gently add the gabi leaves. Use a spoon to push them down into the liquid until they’re moistened. Be careful not to stir for the first 15 to 20 minutes.
- Lower the heat, cover the pan, and let it cook for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the pork is fully cooked and the leaves have softened.
- Finally, add the coconut cream and continue to cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until it’s almost dry and starts to render fat. Season with salt to taste, and enjoy your hot and tasty dish!
Other Notes and Dish Options to a Laing Recipe
When making laing, there are a few other things to keep in mind. For one thing, do you know the vegetable leaves in the dish can cause itchiness? It is because the leaves contain high levels of calcium oxalate, however, drying the leaves under the sun before cooking can reduce the amount of these crystals.
Aside from this, it is best not to stir the taro leaves in the pot during the first 15 to 20 minutes of cooking. Instead, gently push them down into the coconut milk to soften them. It is important to cook the coconut sauce at a gentle simmer and avoid boiling it to prevent curdling or separating.
Laing may be the most popular dish that uses taro leaves mixed with other ingredients, but taro itself is rather popular. One other dish that has taro leaves in is called sinigang, which is a national stew made with pork, beef, shrimp, or fish. If you can’t find taro, you can use radish instead. This tasty stew is thickened with peeled and diced taro corms and flavored with a souring agent like tamarind fruit or kamias. Taro corms are also used in making ginataan, a delicious dessert made with coconut milk and taro.
Other Dishes that Feature a Root Vegetable
You’ll find that there are many dishes that feature a root vegetable in Filipino cuisine. And they are not limited to savory dishes. If you want to try other vegetable dishes to pair with rice, you should try Ginisang Munggo and Law-uy. Aside from this, there are also vegetable dishes like Suam na Mais and Gising Gising for you to try. For sweet dishes that actually feature root vegetables, there are dishes like Cassava Cake and Ube Brazo de Mercedes to check out.
