Pansit Palabok is the Easiest Filipino Merienda You Can Make

You’ll be pleasantly surprised the bright orange sauce and toppings pack smooth umami flavor.

Every Filipino believes chowing down on noodles will give them long life. This superstition comes from the strong influence of early Chinese traders and immigrants who passed down traditional methods of making the noodles. You can bet there is a cauldron of Pansit—a generic term for anything with noodles but originally a Hokkien term (pian e sit) for “convenient food”—to feed hordes of guests in any Filipino occasion.

Today, almost every region of the country has its own special noodle recipe that varies by how the sauce or broth is prepared and what ingredients go on top of the bowl. Some noodle dishes are stir-fried and served with another carb, while others are most sought-after during the wet season for its rich broth and generous toppings of meat, spring onions, crunchy garlic, and seasonings.

Still, there is one pansit dish that is common and loved anywhere in the Philippines: Pansit Palabok. Easily distinguished by its bright orange sauce, palabok uses thin rice noodles with shrimp sauce and topped with hardboiled egg, shrimp, crispy pork bits or chicken flakes, tofu cubes, chicharron or prawn crackers or tinapa (smoked fish) flakes. Its deep savoriness can be balanced by the sour of calamansi or enhanced by bits of fried garlic. Yet, the most important ingredient here is the richness and thickness of the shrimp sauce. This recipe from Mama Sita requires their ready-made oriental gravy mix for palabok in pouch.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pouch Mama Sita’s Palabok Mix, dissolved in 3 cups (750 ml) water (or stock)
• 2 tbsp garlic, crushed
• ½ cup tinapa, flaked and deboned
• 8 cups water
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 pack, rice noodles (bihon)
• 2 pcs egg, hardboiled and sliced
• 3tbsp garlic, fried
• 3 tbsp spring onions, chopped
• ½ cup Kropek (prawn crackers), crushed
• ½ cup chicken, boiled and flaked
• 4 pcs calamansi, sliced crosswise

Ingredients are available for purchase in My Tindahan here.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a saucepan, sauté garlic and half of the tinapa flakes over medium-high heat. Add Mama Sita’s Palabok Mix. Bring to a boil while stirring occasionally.
2. Lower the hear and let it simmer until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In a pot, bring 2 liters of water and 2 tbsp cooking to a boil. Add the noodles. Leave for 1 minute or until noodles are cooked through. Drain and rise with cold water. Mix in 1 tbsp of cooking oil to separate the strands
4. Put the noodles on shallow bowls. Pour the sauce on top of the sauce. Garnish with boiled egg, toasted garlic, chopped spring onions, chicken flakes, crushed prawn crackers, the remaining half of tinapa flakes. Serve with calamansi halves.

Photo courtesy of The Maya Kitchen.