How to Make a Delicious Pancit Palabok

Pancit Palabok is a noodle dish with shrimp sauce and topped with many ingredients such as cooked shrimp, boiled pork, crushed chicharon, tinapa flakes, fried garlic, etc. It is called palabok because of the bright orange sauce and toppings that make an attractive garnishing. Palabok is the Filipino word for garnish or embellishment, but the garnishings in palabok are more than just decorations. They make this noodle dish very special and incredibly delicious. It is a very tasty treat that will surely relieve your hunger.

This article presents you how to make this delicious dish.

Ingredients:
1 pack (1 lb) rice noodles (bihon)

Sauce:
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 lb ground pork
1 tbsp anatto powder
3 cups pork broth
1 piece shrimp cube
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Toppings:
1 cup boiled pork, thinly sliced and cut into small pieces
2 pieces fried firm tofu (tokwa), cubed
½ cup tinapa flakes (smoked fish)
½ cup chicharon (pounded)
2 hard boiled eggs,sliced
½ cup cooked shrimps (boiled or steamed)
1/4 cup green onion or scallions, finely chopped
3 tbsp fried garlic
2 pieces lemon, sliced (or 6 to 8 pieces calamansi)

Cooking Procedure:
1. First, soak the rice noodles in water for about 15 minutes. Then, drain and set aside.
2. To cook the sauce:
    2.1 Heat a saucepan and pour the cooking oil.
    2.2 When the oil is hot enough, put-in the ground pork and cook it for about 5 to 7 minutes.
    2.3 Dilute the annato powder in pork broth and then pour the mixture in the saucepan. Bring to a boil. (Note: If you are using anatto seeds, soak them first in 3 tbsp water to bring-out the color).
    2.4 Add the shrimp cube and stir and simmer it for 3 minutes.
    2.5 Add the flour gradually while stirring.
    2.6 Add the fish sauce and ground black pepper. Simmer until the sauce becomes thick. Then, set aside.
3. Boil enough water in a pot.
4. Place the soaked noodles in a strainer and then submerge the strainer in the boiling water for about a minute or until the noodles are cooked. Also make sure that the noodles are still firm.
5. Remove the strainer from the pot and drain the liquid from the noodles.
6. Place the noodles in a serving plate.
7. Put the sauce on top of the noodles then arrange the toppings over the sauce.
8. Lastly, serve with a slice of lemon or calamansi.

Note: If you use fresh shrimps with head, you can omit the shrimp cube from the ingredients. You can shell the shrimp and remove the head. Then, crush the head of the shrimp and use its juice instead of the shrimp cube.