Pancit Bihon Guisado

My niece Vernice turned 10 months old today and I decided to cook pancit bihon and chicken afritada to celebrate. After I cooked, my siblings and their families came to eat and we ate the foods that I cooked. Pancit is always cooked when somebody celebrate her/his birthday and you know what, my pancit were all gone and nothing was left for me this morning.

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. pack pancit bihon noodles
1 cooked chicken breast, shredded
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 cabbage, sliced into strips
1 onion, peeled and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
2 carrots, sliced into strips
1/2 cup shrimps, shells removed
3/4 cup diced celery
1 cup sliced green beans
soy sauce
black pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
cooking oil

Directions:

1. Grease a pot and saute the garlic and onions. Add the shrimps and chicken and cook for a couple of minutes. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1 chicken bouillon cube. Add all the vegetables and season with soy sauce and black pepper according to your taste.

2. In a large pan or wok, put the 3 cups of chicken broth. Add 2 tbsps of cooking oil, soy sauce, 1 chicken bouillon, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and let it simmer. Add the pancit bihon noodles stirring constantly and cook it till the noodles are tender and had absorbed all the broth. Then add the vegetables and mix it altogether.

Pancit Palabok

My hubby had been tired eating pancit bihon because I always cook that when we were in Texas. It surprised me though when he tasted the pancit palabok that we ordered from Tea House in Baguio because he loved it. It tasted different from the pancit bihon that I used to cook. I haven't tried cooking pancit palabok yet but my brother-in-law is very good in cooking this. In fact he cooked it during my youngest nephew's birthday the other week. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

500 grams pancit noodles ( rice glass noodles)

100 grams shrimps, peeled, deveined, and chopped (save heads for shrimp stock)

300 grams tinapa (smoked fish), fried and flaked (take out the bones!)

200 grams pork, sliced into bit-size pieces

4-6 eggs, hard-boiled and sliced

1-2 cups pork cracklings, pound or grind in food processor

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

1 med size onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

salt, and patis (fish sauce) if you wish

2 packs Mama Sita Palabok Mix

water

2-3 tbsp cooking oil

calamansi (Filipino lime)

DIRECTION:

1. Soak shrimp heads (and mash with a spoon if you must!) with 1 cup boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set liquid aside. This is your shrimp stock.

2. Cook glass noodles according to package instructions. Set aside.

2. In a large pan, heat oil. Saute garlic and onions over low heat. Add pork, continue stir-frying until cooked. Remove pork and set aside.

3. Saute shrimps in the same pan only til they turn orange. Remove from pan.

4. Dissolve Palabok mix in cold water (follow package instructions). Pour dissolved mix and shrimp stock into pan used for sauteing. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring once in a while. Simmer until sauce thickens. Season with salt and patis (fish sauce).

5. Arrange noodles on a plate, and top with sauce, pork, shrimps, smoked fish flakes, pork cracklings, green onions and sliced eggs. Squeeze calamansi juice over your plate of pancit palabok if desired. Enjoy!

Pancit For My Neighbor

Yesterday afternoon, I was busy cooking in my kitchen. It was my neighbor's birthday and I cooked pancit for her. She fell in love with my pancit the first time she tasted it. It was my hubby who went and gave her the pancit for a couple of times. She told my hubby a couple of weeks ago that she really love it and she asked him if I can cook pancit for her birthday. My hubby said I might and he told me about it. I said that I'm willing to cook pancit for her birthday. They are good neighbors of ours. Her husband mows our yard and even trim the edges of our grass several times already. Hubby told him he's been spoiling us. So in return, I gave them pancit and lumpia everytime I cook. Yesterday, when my hubby went to give my neighbor the pancit for her birthday, hubby said she was so happy and she said, "Yey!". If you want the recipe for my pancit, just click HERE.

Pancit Palabok

Pancit Palabok is also known as Pancit Luglug and are essentially the same dish, with the difference being primarily in the type of the sauce used. I like pancit palabok but not as much as I like pancit bihon guisado. But for a change, it's good to cook other pancit recipes once in a while. I remember when I was still in the Philippines, I used to order pancit palabok in a restaurant and they really cooked it good. Now I miss it because there are no Filipino restaurants here in our place. I have to cook it if I want to eat it. Here's a recipe of pancit palabok.

Ingredients:

* 8 oz Pack rice noodles
* 1 tb Annato seeds(achuete)
* 1 c Shrimp juice
* 2 tb Fish sauce (patis)
* 2 1/2 tb Cornstarch mixed With 1/4 cup water
* 1/2 lb Shrimps shelled and fried
* 3/4 c Finely crushed chicharon -(pork rinds)
* 3 Cloves garlic; chopped and -fried
* 2 tbsp Green onion chopped
* 2 Hard boiled eggs
* Salt and pepper to taste


Instructions:

Soak noodles in boiling water for 20 minutes or until softened. Drain well. Set aside. Let the soaked annato seeds stand for 20 minutes then roll seeds with your fingers until you extract the color. Discard the seeds. Add annato water to shrimp juice in a saucepan. Season with fish sauce salt black pepper. Stir in the cornstarch simmer until thick stirring continuously until thickened. In a plate put the noodles pour sauce over it then sprinkle crushed pork rinds shrimps fried garlic green onions. Arrange sliced eggs on top and lemon wedges on the side. To serve toss pancit mixture and sprinkle with lemon juice to taste.