No Fuss Pancit Luglug/Palabok

I always liked Pancit Palabok. Whenever I go to a party and there's pancit palabok on the table, it's always the first thing I eat. I like all the many ingredients and I always thought it's a very difficult dish to cook. I am always impress with someone who can cook pancit palabok. Until one day I decided to cook it myself. I gathered all the filipino cookbooks I have, even searched for a recipe on the net. Ang guess what, it is a very difficult dish to put together. You need this, you need that ... etc, etc, etc. So I cooked a very simple version where the ingredients are readily available. And I came up with this ... And now this is a family favourite. My boys refer to it as ... the noodles with the yellow sauce. The colour of the anatto powder I get in here is yellow, that's why.

Ingredients:

1 packet bihon (rice sticks) or alternatively use a packet of thin spaghetti (I usually use spaghetti, my family prefers it. And there's not much fuss in preparing it, once it's cooked as per the direction, you need not soak and boil it like the bihon)

2 tbsp oil

1 head garlic, minced (we love garlic, the more the merrier)

1 medium onion, minced finely

500 grams cooked pork, diced (minced chicken or pork works as well)

300 grams small shrimps, shelled ( or thinly sliced squid tubes)

½ cup pork broth or water

salt and pepper to taste

2 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

½ cup pork rind cracklings (chicharon), crushed
2 tbsp fish sauce (patis)

2 tbsp chopped spring onions

calamansi or lemon wedges

Ingredients for the Palabok (Red Sauce)

2 tbsp achuete/anatto oil

½ cup corn flour (corn starch) or plain flour

2-½ cup pork broth or water

Juices from sautéed pork-shrimp mixture

Directions:

1. Soak noodles in water for 30 minutes. Drain. If using spaghetti noodles, cook as per the direction in the packet.


2. Over medium heat, sauté garlic in skillet in 2 tbsp oil for 1 minute or until brown. Set aside and use for garnishing.


3. Sauté onion and pork in remaining oil for about 5-7 minutes. Add shrimps and ½ cup broth and let simmer for 5 minutes. If using water instead of broth, season with salt and pepper to taste. Strain pork-shrimp mixture when done. Set aside. Save juices.


4. In a big sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Place a handful of drained noodles in a strainer and dip in boiling water. Boil for 2-4 minutes or until tender. Lift strainer out of water; drain noodles thoroughly and transfer to a serving dish. Cook rest of noodles in the same manner.


5. Pour red sauce over noodles. Top with the pork-shrimp mixture and the rest of the ingredients (brown garlic, spring onions, boiled eggs, chicharon). Serve with calamansi and a small bowl of patis for further seasoning if desired.
   

For the Red Sauce (Palabok):

For achuete oil ... Heat 2 tbsp oil, sauté achuete/anatto powder, keep stirring until oil turns red

• Add a little broth (1/4 cup) to the flour to make a thin paste. Stir rest of broth in.


• Add the mixture to the achuete oil and enough water to make 3 cups of sauce including the reserved pork-shrimp broth. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Keep stirring the mixture to get a smooth sauce.


• Correct the seasonings.

The typical pancit palabok in the Philippines has tinapa (smoked fish). I did not include it because my family is not very keen on smoked fish. More often than not, we also do not put chicharon, again, they are not very keen on it. But, if I have some in the cupboard, I put some on mine. The crunchy texture of it adds another flavour in the pancit.