PANCIT

 

It’s my birthday week and to celebrate Pancit, a dish that has featured throughout my life thanks to my Filipino mother and wider Filipino family, is on the menu. Traditionally, Pancit is present at every family gathering and celebration as part of a feast, especially birthdays with the noodles (which signifies long life!). It can also be served as a stand alone dish. This signature dish of the Philippines is of Chinese origin, its name derives from the Hokkien phrase ‘pian i sit’ meaning something convenient and cooked fast. There are many variations - from the type of noodle or noodles used as well as additions of meat, seafood and vegetables. Here I’m sharing a vegetarian version that can be enjoyed with accompanying dishes and spruced up with toppings and uses vegetables that are widely available here in the west. Egg noodles are used for pancit canton, while thin, translucent rice noodles are used for pancit bihon. In the dishes of my mum and aunties (and some uncles!) we like the texture combination of two noodles so here I’ve combined glass noodles from mung beans or rice vermicelli with thicker noodles like sweet potato or soba. You can also use egg noodles if you like (these contain gluten) and traditional LugLug (cornstarch noodles). Then, you just need to add your toppings- in this case oyster mushrooms, or boiled egg - or both! Crispy tofu is also delicious. The method below sounds long as there are quite a few ingredients in this colourful dish and the various noodles mentioned have different prep/cook times but once you’ve prepared this a couple of times the method becomes very intuitive.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 4

100g thin noodles - try glass noodles/mung bean noodles/rice vermicelli
100g thicker noodles - try sweet potato/soba noodles/luglug
1 packet oyster mushrooms or 4 boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Small red onion, sliced
2 carrots, julienned
1 packet fine green beans, sliced diagonally
½ white cabbage or 1 hispi, sliced into fine ribbons
1 packet mangetout
1 tbsp quality soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce (or extra soy sauce)
2 cups of hot water

2 vegetable stock cubes
3 tbsp ghee or your choice of cooking oil

For the garnish

Lemon wedges (or calamansi* if you can find it!)
Quality soy sauce
Fish sauce (or extra soy sauce)
Ground black pepper
4 spring onions, finely sliced 

METHOD:

  1. If using mushrooms - heat one to two tablespoons of ghee/oil in a large pan or wok. Add the oyster mushrooms (whole or sliced as per your preference) and season lightly with sea salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until each side is golden, about five minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

  2. Add two tablespoons of ghee/oil to the same pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook until the vegetables are tender. Shift the vegetables to one side of the pan and add the minced garlic.  Stir fry for a minute before adding the mangetout and the cabbage and combining with the cooked veg, cooking until they're fragrant, about one minute. Stir one tbs of soy sauce and continue to cook until the cabbage begins to wilt and the mangetout is tender. Take the pan off the heat and set aside. 

  3. In a small saucepan add 1 cup of hot water and one stock cube and stir until dissolved. Cook the thin noodles in the broth according to the packet instructions. Remove with tongs, allowing any excess liquid to drain back into the pan and add the noodles to the pan of cooked vegetables. Repeat with the other cup of hot water and stock cube and thicker noodles, cooking until just tender.

  4. Using two spatulas, toss the noodles and cooked vegetables until evenly combined, chopping with scissors straight into the pan if the noodles are too long. Add the fish sauce or more soy sauce to taste and heat the pan up again if necessary.

  5. Plate up the vegetable noodle stir fry or transfer to a platter. Top with the cooked mushrooms or sliced boiled egg. Squeeze over some lemon juice, sprinkle with black pepper and garnish with the spring onions. Serve alongside dipping pots of extra soy sauce, lemon wedges and spring onions.   

East by West tip:

*Calamansi is a tiny orange citrus fruit native to the Philippines and Southeast Asia. I’ve only eaten pancit with calamansi instead of lemon a few times in my life as it’s very hard to find! I have also used bottled Yuzu (a Japanese citrus) juice as a tasty alternative.

A little toasted sesame oil makes a lovely variation - especially if you are eating this dish alone rather than alongside other flavours.

 
Jasmine Hemsley