There are many different ways of cooking pancit. My favorite is Pancit Bihon, which is made with rice noodles. My parents often cooked this during special occasions, but sometimes I just want to have it on a regular day. After several trials, we’ve come close to perfecting the recipe. While we haven’t found the perfect pack of bison noodles, I feel the Newton brand is pretty good, though I’ve also seen Excellent is another good brand to try. Other brands we tried that weren’t so good include Buena, and those clearly marked as Bihon noodles.
Ingredients
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 lb snow peas
- 5 carrots, julienned
- 1 head of napa cabbage, or savor cabbage, sliced
- 3 stalks of celery, sliced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1 lb medium-large size shrimp, peeled and deveined. As an alternative, you can use jumbo shrimp and slice them in half while de-veining.
- 1 lb of sliced pork loin
- 1 package of rice noodles, or bihon
- 3 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth (or 1 cube of chicken bouillon dissolved)
- canola oil
- calamansi – may be hard to find, so you can substitute with lemon slices
- fresh ground pepper and salt, to taste
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced for garnish
Ingredients for Pancit Bihon
Directions
- Place the rice stick noodles (or bihon) in a large bowl, or pot, and soak in warm water to soften. It should take about 15 minutes. Then drain.
- In a wok, heat the oil and saute the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes.
- Add the pork and stir fry for about 3 minutes or until cooked.
- Next add the shrimp and vegetables and continue stir frying until the shrimp is cooked (you’ll know when they turn pink) and the vegetables are half cooked.
- Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and soy sauce and simmer for about 1 minute.
- Remove the pork, shrimp and vegetables from the wok and set it aside. Leave the broth.
- Add the noodles to the wok and cook for a few minutes.
- Toss constantly with your wok ladle, or with tongs, until the noodles are cooked and dried. If it becomes dry before the noodles are cooked, you can add the remaining broth as needed.
- Add the pork, shrimp and vegetables back to the wok. Combine all ingredients.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Arrange the cooked noodles in a big platter and garnish with slices of hard-boiled eggs.
- Serve with slices of calamansi (or lemon).
