Ang Sarap (A Tagalog word for "It's Delicious")

Pancit Bihon Guisado

For the fourth day of the Chinese dish week it will be something created outside of China but this dish definitely has its Chinese roots which is the case for a lot of South East Asian dishes. So for this post it will be a noodle dish called Pancit Bihon Guisado.

Pancit or Pansit is a Tagalog word for noodles; it was derived from the Hokkien phrase “pian i sit” which means “Something cooked fast”. Noodles were introduced to the Philippines by the Chinese similar to how they introduce it to the Thai, Malay, Singaporeans and other neighbouring countries. There are a lot of different types of Pancit or Noodles that is offered in Philippines and some of the popular ones are Bihon, Canton, Sotanghon, Palabok and Lomi, it is also common in Philippine restaurants to have this on their menus.

Now having that Chinese origin, it will definitely have a lot of stories and folklore behind it and one popular belief in the Philippines is that this dish should be served during Birthdays and New Year to live a long life as noodles in Chinese culture represents long life and good health, also if you will follow this belief don’t ever cut the noodles short before and while cooking are as it might reverse the effect.

Now for this recipe we will use bihon which is a very thin rice noodles, there are a lot of brands but be careful as some are of real bad quality and break or dissolve easily when cooked which is not good in terms of the belief mentioned above but more importantly the texture, you can usually test them by trying to break them on their packet, if it is brittle then it will be easier to break so choose the flexible ones.

Ingredients

300g Pancit bihon noodles
1 1/2 cups cooked Chicken Breast, shredded
1 cup shrimps, shelled and deveined
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cabbage, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, sliced
3/4 cup celery, chopped
1/3 cup soy sauce
Fish sauce
pepper
1 lemon or calamansi, sliced
oil

Method

1. Soak noodles in water for a maximum of 10 minutes. This makes it soft and easier to handle when cooking.
2. Now using a wok, add oil and sauté garlic and onions in medium heat.
3. Add the chicken broth, shrimps, shredded chicken and all the vegetables bring to a boil.
4. Once boiling add noodles and soy sauce, stir fry and cook for 5 minutes
5. Season with Fish sauce and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with calamansi or lemon wedges on the side.