Once Tasted, Ever Wanted Pancit Bihon

By: Sarah

 

Hello Awesome Readers!

Time to turn another page, you can already feel my excitement welcoming 2022. The past 2 years been rough, done and gone; as they say, it can only be better from here on. Serving today is the usual Filipino way of ushering good luck to the new year…PANCIT BIHON (interestingly, sometimes spelled Bijon). It is pure comfort food and so perfect for many Filipino celebrations and yes, on a chilly day. So many variations of this well-loved dish with meats and chopped vegetables, the variety is endless. You can go vegetarian, pescatarian, Vegan, or Flexitarian (if you’re semi-vegetarian, and occasionally eats meats). As always, we make dishes work for us. I am sharing with you my easy way of making Pancit Bihon (very versatile that allows your tastes to dictate the final touches).

I have always loved and eaten pancit since I was a kid. I never attempted to cook it until of late. Seeing my friend Serena (I call her the Pancit Master) doing a lot of prep works, it just was not for me. Serena makes great pancit WITHOUT recipe. But I always prefer making or baking with a recipe for me to follow and tweak. So I let you have my recipe, enjoy!

What ingredients do you need to make Pancit Bihon?

A trip to a nearby Asian store (or stores like Butera, Tony’s, Caputo) is all it takes to gather all ingredients for this dish. I prefer pork or meat or both for my Pancit Bihon. And the only equipment you need is a large nonstick wok, a spoon to stir and tongs to carefully move the noodles.

Chicken: Breast, Thighs (so much flavor out of the bone in thighs), or Legs + Liver

Pork: Belly or Shoulder
Chinese Sausage
Bihon or Rice Stick Noodles (Just please stick to Excellent Brand):
two 8 0z or one 16 oz
Once Tasted, Ever Wanted
Pancit Bihon
Green beans
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Canned Young Corn
Onion
Minced garlic
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Mama Sita Pancit Bihon Mix
Chicken Cubes
Liquid Seasoning
Calamansi or Lemon

The dreaded Prep Works, not really!

Before getting nuts with the chopping of veggies, you need chicken broth and there is no better way to get it than by making it yourself, trust me. You can do this the day before or well in advance. Boil your pork or chicken with enough water, a tablespoon of salt and bay leaves until meats are tender and cooked. Remove meats from pot and leave out to cool, then slice or shred. On to the veggies: the carrots are julienned, the cabbage shredded (remove the hard stems), the stem ends of green beans clipped, and the young corn and Chinese sausage sliced. You may add store-bought cooked shrimps, hard-boiled eggs and lemon slices for toppings. Sounds easy so far? It is that easy, I promise! And didn’t I say versatile? So go ahead and make it your own special combination: tofu, snap/snow peas, ham, cauliflower, black fungus

Once Tasted, Every Wanted Pancit Bihon Servings:
good size for 10-people party
Two (8 oz/227 gms each or one
16 oz) EXCELLENT Rice Stick
Cooking oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 Chinese Sausage, sliced
Pork or chicken meat, boiled and
chopped/shredded
Julienned carrots, about 2 or 3
Shredded cabbage, use half a large
cabbage
2 stalks celery, cut into small pieces
Canned young corn, drained and
sliced
Mama Sita Pancit Bihon Mix,
dissolved in 1 cup of chicken stock
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 1/2 cups Chicken stock
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 teaspoons oyster sauce

In a large wok, heat up sliced Chinese sausage and chicken livers in cooking oil. Remove and set aside. Saute onions in cooking oil followed by the garlic. Add chopped or shredded chicken/pork, soy sauce, Mama Sita Bihon Mix dissolved in 1 cup of water, chicken cubes, salt and pepper, oyster sauce and cook for 5-10 minutes or until cooked through. Add the veggies, chicken livers, chinese sausage, sliced young corn and the rest of the chicken stock (3 1/2 cups). Cook till mixture start to boil. Scoop the vegetables/meats and leave the remaining liquid in the wok. Add the Excellent rice stick noodles (NO NEED TO SOAK) and stir around to submerge every piece. Separate strands with help of tongs, and I usually cut the noodles in half. Once noodles are well soaked and cooked, put back all the ingredients and stir to combine (you may squeeze a lemon at this time for added flavor). Turn heat off and put back all ingredients and stir to combine. This is a must: Splash more cooking oil to give the pancit bihon that nice shine. Transfer the pancit to a serving platter. Top and serve with top and serve with cooked shrimps, hard-boiled eggs and lemon slices.

Remember, New Year = New Possibilities! Let’s soar in 2022…and be happy, healthy and wealthy.