Pancit

Pancit Palabok

Pancit or '"Pansit"' is a stir-fried noodle dish common in the Philippines. This food is second in popularity to rice in the country, and is similar to yakisoba and yakiudon, Japanese-style stir-fried noodles.

Variations

• Pancit Cabagan
• Pancit Bato
• Pancit Bihongundoy
• Pancit Canton
• Pancit estacion (Tanza, Cavite only)
• Pancit Habhab (Lucban, Quezon only)
• Pancit Luglog
• Pancit Malabon
• Pancit Molo
• Pancit Miki (round egg noodles)
• Pancit Míki-Bíhon Guisado (round egg noodles + bihon)
• Pancit Moròng
• Pancit Palabok
• Pancit Sotanghon
• Pancit ng Tuguegarao a.k.a Batil Patong

Pancit Bihon (aka Bijon) is the type with which foreigners usually associate the word "pancít": very thin rice noodles fried with soy sauce and some citrus (kalamansi) and possibly with patis (fish sauce), and some variation of sliced meat and chopped vegetables. The exact Bijon composition depends on someone's recipe but usually, Chinese sausage and cabbage are the most basic ingredients in a pancit bihon.

Pancit Palabok and Pancit Luglug are essentially the same dish, the difference being primarily in the noodles used in the recipe. Luglug uses a thicker noodle than the traditional bihon of palabok. Both types use a round rice noodle (often specifically labelled for pancit luglug or palabok) smothered with a thick, golden shrimp sauce or other flavored sauce, and topped with:

• Shrimp, (the size and shell-on or shell-off depending on preference)
• Crushed or ground pork rind (chicharron) for toppings
• Hard-boiled egg (sliced into disc or quartered lengthwise or chopped)
• tinapa flakes (smoked fish)
• freshly minced green onion

Palabok/Luglug and Canton are a communal comfort food, and can be found at nearly all Filipino potluck parties. They are best made and eaten in batches for they are easily consumed.

Pancit Sotanghon is a cellophane noodle soup with a chicken broth base. It may include some kind of meat and vegetable. A typical sotanghon is made with kalamansi, sliced straw mushrooms, slivered dark-meat chicken and green onion.

BATI'L PATONG: Batil Patong is not commonly known outside of Tuguegarao in Northern Luzon, Philippines. It is an unusual sauteed noodle dish in that it comes served a dark non-soy-based sauce (unlike the more visually appealing light sauces of Pancit Canton) and with two piquant side dishes: one, a cup of cloudy pork broth and two, a sizeable dish of chopped onions, vinegar/calamansi, chili peppers, and soy sauce. The noodles called "Pancit Cabagan" are wheat-based and made locally. They are served moist and pasty, with a thick sauce, topped with crushed pork-rind crackling(chicharron), and whipped egg from whence the name "bati'l patong" literally 'scrambled and placed on top' is derived. Although the dish used be served in hefty portions, high cost of ingredients (circa 2008) have made it necessary to offer different serving sizes. Also, the cost of chicken eggs has had new versions topped with sliced boiled egg or quail eggs instead.

Seaweed pancit

Tiwi, Albay residents discovered a new pansit or noodles made from seaweed, which has health benefits. It is rich in calcium and magnesium and the seaweed noodles can be cooked into pansit canton, pansit luglug, spaghetti or carbonara.

See also

• Rice vermicelli
• Filipino Chinese cuisine
• Pansit-pansitan

External links

• PCIJ report on Pancit
• Pancit recipes from A Scientist in the Kitchen
• Cooks.com Bihon recipes