Pancit, A Filipino noodle dish
Pancit is a delicious noodle dish and you know me, I love yummy Asian noodle dishes (don’t forget to check out my other Asian Inspired recipes on Jackie’s Eats & Treats).
In Filipino cuisine, pancit is a noodle dish made with rice noodles. Noodles were introduced to the Philippines by Chinese settlers and over centuries noodles have been fully adopted into local cuisine.
My variation of Pancit contains the traditional bihon which is thin rice noodle. I also included pork, Chinese sausage, tofu and an assortment of veggies with soy sauce and oyster sauce. This version of pancit would be considered, Pancit Canton, the Filipino adaptation of lo mein.
This dish was introduced to me by my brother-in-law, James. As I mentioned in my Lumpia post, check out my Lumpia recipe here, James’ family loves their Filipino cuisine during family gathers. I’ve watched James create Pancit a few times and I was inspired to create this dish because my sister and her clan had to cancel their trip up north this summer due to COVID-19 travel fears 😢 and I knew James would pull out this deliciousness during his visit. As a result, Jackie’s Eats & Treats went on a hunt to create Pancit in his honor and I think I delivered wonderfully! This version of Pancit is sweet with the Chinese sausage and oyster sauce, full of texture with the veggies and contains lots of umaminess 😋, I hope you enjoy and cheers 🍻.
Some Notes
- Some Variations of Pancit
- Pancit Canton (the variation featured in this post) – This is the most common noodle dish found in Filipino homes and restaurants. As mentioned above, this dish has thin rice noodles, Bihon, and is stir fried with veggies and proteins. The stir fry is usually seasoned with soy sauce and/or oyster sauce and some citrus like calamansi, the Filipino lime, or lime.
- Pancit Palabok Luglog – This noodle dish contains thicker rice noodles than the traditional Bihon and it has a gravy sauce served on top. The customary orange sauce includes trimmings of ground pork, slices of hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, springs of onion, crushed pork rinds and sometimes other ingredients.
- Lomi – From the Chinese phrase meaning “braised noodles”, lomi has thick egg noodles (almost like Japanese udon but with egg) and is braised in a thick soup with veggies and proteins like pork, chicken, meatballs and shrimp.
- One Pot Goodness – This recipe is based on creating deliciousness in one pan. Instead of preparing my rice noodles separately, I prepared after stir frying the pork, Chinese sausage, aromatics and veggies and cooked the Bihon in chicken stock. The chicken stock was then thickened with a cornstarch slurry, to create a thick sauce that cling onto the noodles.
- Proteins for Pancit Canton – This recipe included ground pork, Chinese sausage and tofu. You could certainly make this vegetarian and use tofu only. Additionally pork belly, chicken, ground beef or shrimp would work wonderfully with this recipe. Use the proteins you love and aim for 1lb or two cups of proteins. You will notice my recipe does not include any frying oil, however, if you’re using lean proteins, you might need to add cooking oil. I would also suggest if you’re using ground pork or beef, allow the fat to render and get a nice golden brown on the protein because that’s flavor!
- Veggies for Pancit Canton – Again, use what you love and aim for approximately 2 cups of veggies, more if you’re planning a vegetarian Pancit. Cut the veggies evenly, so they cook at the same speed and heat level.
Pancit
Ingredients
- ½ lb ground pork
- 4 Chinese Sausage, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
- 2 tsp ginger
- 2 green onions, whites chopped and greens julienned
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- ½ cup cabbage
- ½ cup carrot, julienned
- 2½ cups chicken stock
- ⅛ cup light soy sauce
- 1 TBSP dark soy sauce
- 1 TBSP oyster sauce
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 7 oz Bihon Noodles
- ½ cup tofu, cubed
- 1 TBSP cornstarch
- 1 TBSP cold water
For Garnishing
- Lime wedges
- Green onion, sliced thinly
Instructions
- In a wok or nonstick pan add your ground pork and Chinese sausage and cook on medium-high heat until the ground pork is golden brown and cooked through.
- Using a slotted spoon transfer the pork and sausage to a plate, leaving the fat behind in the pan.
- Add the garlic, ginger and green onion bottoms to the rendered fat and cook on medium-high heat until aromatic, ~2 minutes.
- Now add the celery, carrot and cabbage and stir-fry for another minute or two.
- Then add the chicken stock, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and stir until well combined.
- Now place the noodles into the sauce and allow them to simmer in medium-high heat. Using tongs toss the noodles as they cook in the sauce. Continue cooking and stir-frying for 2-3 minutes or until the noodles are tender and have soaked up all of the sauce. If the sauce is looking thin, add a cornstarch slurry, with the cornstarch and water included in this recipe.
- Add the pork, sausage and tofu to the pan with the green onion tops and toss until combined.
- Serve warm with a lime wedge on the side, enjoy and cheers!
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