Octopus Bicol Express recipe

Hi guys! This time we're cooking Octopus Bicol Express! I usually cook my octopus as adobo or a Thai/Korean stir fry but I'm in the mood for spice and creamy coconut milk so I made this instead. So let's do this!

What you will need:

• 300g fresh octopus (cleaned and innards removed)

• 10pcs green chili (sliced diagonally)

• 2pcs red Thai chili/siling labuyo (sliced diagonally)

• 1 medium-sized onion (sliced)

• 6 cloves garlic (chopped)

• 1 thumb ginger (julienned)

• 1 1/2 tbsp shrimp paste (I used the Barrio Fiesta brand with sweet flavor)

• 1 tsp sugar (skip this if you used the same brand of shrimp paste as mine)

• 1 tsp vinegar

• 1 tsp fish sauce

• 150ml coconut milk

• Salt

• Crushed pepper

• 2 tbsp Cooking oil

• Water

Procedure:

1. Thoroughly clean the octopus first. Step one is to turn its head inside out to remove the ink sac, eyes and other innards then wash over running water.

2. Then, get a bowl and then start rubbing salt on the squid with your hands. This will take around two minutes and you should have a whiter octopus and it should have removed the odor of the octopus.

3. In a pot, boil enough salted water to submerge the octopus and let it simmer until the octopus is fork-tender. This depends on the size of the octopus, be sure to stab it with a fork and if the firmness is enough for you, remove it from heat, wash over running water then set aside.

4. Heat up your wok then pour in the oil when it's hot then swirl it to coat the surface area. Now, saute the ginger, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until fragrant. Make sure the garlic doesn't burn so adjust the heat as needed.

5. Next, dab in the shrimp paste and lower the heat to medium-low. Stir it around to coat your spices with shrimp paste. Cook for two minutes.

6. Then put in your octopus and chili then adjust heat to high then stir fry. Add in the vinegar and fish sauce and make sure to coat the octopus with the sauce. Cook for two minutes with continuous stirring.

7. Now, pour in the coconut milk then lower the heat to low and cover. Cook until the sauce has reduced to half.

8. Finally, season with freshly crushed pepper and serve while hot. Perfect with rice and cold soda.