How To Cook Laing or Taro Leaves

Laing or Taro Leaves in Coconut Cream

Laing is a spicy dish made from fresh or better yet sun dried taro leaves and stems of the taro plant, cooked with coconut milk and flavored with pork bits, garlic, hot chili peppers and fermented shrimp. The coconuts used in this dish are the mature ones which give the desired creaminess of the milk in the cooked dish. The coconuts are grated in the market and at home I extract the cream manually 3 times to get three extractions. First extraction has no water added, I get the pure coconut cream manually. For the second extraction I add 4 cups water to get coconut milk and for the third extraction I add another 4 cups  water to the grated coconut to get diluted coconut milk. It takes a lot of effort to really cook a mean Laing but all of the hardships of the whole process is all worth it. I think my Laing is the tastiest Laing ever. Try it and you will see.

Here is how I cook Laing. 

Ingredients:

1 kilo taro leaves and stems, sorted and cleaned

4 pieces matured coconuts, grated

300 grams meaty pork belly, sliced thinly and chopped coarsely

1 head garlic, minced

1/2 cup fermented shrimp, remove unwanted bits

12 pieces bird's eye chillies, chopped

1 piece Knorr pork cube, crushed

Sea salt to taste

Procedure:

Tear the taro leaves into shreds, peel the taro stems by stripping the outside covering off the stems and cut into finger sizes. Clean and wash them very well. Drain all traces of water. I do it in the salad spinner.

Dry in the sun or in the oven to wilt. This process gives better texture and flavor.

Extract coconut cream using manually by using a muslin bag and wring out the pure coconut cream. Reserve the first cream extract. Add 4 cups water in the second extraction, wring the muslin bag to get coconut milk. Add 4 cups for the third extraction, wring the muslin bag to get diluted coconut milk. Let the third extraction settle in a few minutes until the thin cream sits on top and skim this cream and discard the thin water below it.  

In a cooking pot big enough, bring to boil the second and third skimmed coconut milk extraction. Add to this the pork, garlic, fermented shrimp and the chopped chillies. 

Being to boil until the liquid is reduced into half. 

Add the taro stems and cook for 10 minutes. 

Add the taro leaves and simmer until almost dry. 

Always check and scrape the bottom part of the pot to prevent the leaves and stems from burning. 

Add the pure coconut cream and the Knorr cube and mix to distribute the cream evenly. 

Simmer on the lowest heat possible and continue cooking until almost dry but not oily and check seasoning. You may add salt if necessary.

Serve with plenty of Rice. 

Share and Enjoy!

Fresh Taro Leaves

Note: In the absence of fresh coconuts you may use 4 tinned pure coconut cream instead. You can also buy dried taro leaves in the supermarkets if available.