A healthier take on the classic, this Chicken Bicol Express has all the rich creamy goodness of Bicol ginataan but none of the fat… extra rice please!
This is what happens when I’m craving for Bicol Express.
Bicol Express is a creamy stew made of pork, coconut milk, finger chilies (siling haba), shrimp paste, and bird’s eye chili (siling labuyo) to make it more spicy.
Since I am not eating pork these days, I decided to make a healthier take on it by using a mixture of chicken breast and chicken thigh fillets. We love dishes cooked in coconut milk here at home because of the rich creamy flavor that’s just perfect with rice. Since finger chilies are not that spicy, I decided not to deseed it and just slice it before adding to the stewing chicken pieces. peanutbutter♥ loves spicy food and one to two bird’s eye chili does the trick to give this dish the heat he demands.
If Ykaie is eating, no bird’s eye chili is added, instead I give peanutbutter♥ his favorite sawsawan of fish sauce with sliced bird’s eye chili on the side.
For now, let’s just enjoy life and this creamy Chicken Bicol Express, shall we?
- 700g thigh fillet or chicken fillet, cut into cubes (I used a mixture of both)
- 8 pieces finger chilies sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tbsp shrimp paste
- 1 450g can of coconut cream
- salt or fish sauce to taste
- bird's eye chili, optional
- Heat oil in a wok or a skillet.
- Sauté garlic and onion until onion becomes translucent.
- Add chicken pieces and cook until brown.
- Add shrimp paste and pour in coconut cream. Bring to a boil and lower down heat to simmer.
- Simmer chicken for about 20-30 minutes or until cooked and sauce is reduced.
- Add the chili peppers and bird's eye chili.
- Simmer for about 1 minute. Season with fish sauce or salt, if needed.
- Serve with lots of steamed (red) rice.
♥ If you make this recipe, kindly snap a photo and tag @thepeachkitchen on Instagram (OR hashtag it #thepeachkitchen). I’d love to see what you cook!
This looks super yummy! I’m not the biggest fan of spicy food, but I do love Bicol Express (not the ones from Bicol ironically because I tried those and I felt like my tongue fell off lol)
Best of luck with the home business!
Mmm, this looks good. And congrats on the home business!
I’ve been contemplating on more “exciting” things I can do with chicken except fried chicken, afritada, tinola and adobo. Instead of using liempo, I recently tried using chicken to cook binagoongan, and it turned out quite well. I will definitely try using chicken the next time I cook Bicol Express! 🙂
Now, I’ve got to try Chicken Binagoongan!