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.

The Sizzling Sisig Recipe

As far as Filipinos are concerned, Sisig is the ultimate pulutan especially when partnered with beer. This original Filipino dish is made from parts of pig’s ears, snout, brain, and liver, and usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers. Usually, it is served in sizzling plate and topped with raw egg. Nowadays, there are various kinds of sisig that is being served such as pork, tuna, chicken, bangus and even tofu.

It is said to have originated from the local residents of Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga where they bought unused pig heads from the commissaries of the area. Pig heads by then were purchased cheap since they were not used in preparing meals for the US Air Force personnel who were stationed there. On the other hand, Lucia Cunanan of Angeles City has been credited with inventing such recipe. The Philippine Department of Tourism even acknowledged that her "Aling Lucing's" restaurant had established the city as the "Sisig Capital of the Philippines" in the year 1974. Cunanan's trademark sisig was developed around that year when she served a concoction of boiled and chopped pig ears and cheeks seasoned with vinegar, calamansi juice, chopped onions and chicken liver and served in hot plates.

Today, there are several restaurants and eateries that serve this wonderful dish either to go along with your favorite drink or to be chowed down with hot steamed rice. However, it is still good to know how to make one. This article will teach you how to make the classic pork sisig.

Ingredients:
½ kilo of pork cheeks
½ kilo of pork or beef togue
½ kilo pork or beef heart
½ kilo liver (beef, pork or chicken)
2 cups of water
1 cup of pineapple juice
1 teaspoon whole black pepper

For the marinade seasoning:
1 cup of chopped onions
¼ cup of vinegar
¼ cup of pineapple juice
3-4 pieces of siling labuyo (hot peppers)
¼ cup of calamansi juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
1 teaspoon whole black pepper, crushed
1 piece of crushed bay leaf
Salt

Cooking procedures:
1. First, mix the pork cheeks, tongue and heart together in salt, water, pineapple juice and crushed black pepper. Boil and let it simmer for about an hour. You can also wait until the meat is tender.
2. Then, drain and let it cool in a room temperature.
3. Grill the pieces and wait until the pork turns brown and crisp.
4. Now, it’s time to chop the grilled pieces into fine cubes.
5. Mix it with the marinade seasoning and store it in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
6. Take out of the fridge and cook in with butter in a sizzling plate.
7. While sizzling, you may also crack an egg on top. The sizzling sisig will cook the egg when mixed. Some also like to sprinkle lemon juice and/or chili sauce to a sizzling sisig.