Happy weekend! Pancit Palabok is a great dish for gatherings, potlucks, get-togethers like the Memorial Day holiday for example. If you’re on a meatless lifestyle, this dish will reassure you there’s something vegan (Filipino) and delicious at your party. Kain na, let’s eat!
Noodles:
2 packets of Excellent rice bihon (Excellent is the brand name!)
Ingredients for Sauce:
oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch green beans, julienne
3-4 organic carrots (or 2 if not organic), julienne
4-6 cups water
6 tbsp. potato starch dissolved in 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. achuete or anatto powder (natural food coloring) dissolved in 2 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. vegetarian broth (“chicken” flavor preferably) Add more to taste.
salt to taste
Toppings:
scallions (for garnish)
crushed vegetarian chicharon (I used the brand Martys)
fried tofu (seasoned with salt)
fried chopped shitake mushroom (seasoned with salt)
lemons (for garnish, or squeeze it in when served to add a little zest)
- Remove noodles from package and submerge noodles in a tray of warm water for 20-30 minutes.
- Heat a medium size pan over medium heat. Pour oil and once hot enough, saute garlic, follow with onions. Saute until onions have turned soft and translucent.
- Add carrots, green beans, and tofu. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 3-5 minutes then turn off heat.
- Combine water, potato starch slurry, annatto, and vegetarian broth in a medium size pot. Mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling. Turn off heat.
- Pour sautéed vegetables into the pot of broth. Mix well. Adjust sea salt and black salt to taste. It should taste more savory than preferred (to balance with the bland noodles).
- Speaking of noodles, boil a medium size pot with approximately 6-8 cups of water. Remove noodles from tray then transfer and blanch it in the boiling pot of water. Quickly drain noodles using a colander.
- Place noodles on a serving plate. Pour about 4 ladle-full of sauce and mix to fully incorporate.
- Generously pour more sauce, this time only on the center of noodles.
- Sprinkle toppings if desired (citrus slices on the side).
- Serve warm.
While preparing and cutting the vegetables, you could fry the tofu cubes on a pan over high heat.
You could find Excellent rice sticks or Super Q noodles, Mama Sita annatto powder, and Snow Fungus at most Asian grocery stores or online (click brand names to take you to the amazon shopping link).
You could find nutritional yeast at health food stores like Rainbow Grocery, Whole Foods, or online.
You could find indian black salt at most Indian grocery stores and health food stores like Whole foods, or online.
When frying the garlic for palabok topping, simply fry in oil until browned then quickly turn off the heat.
If you rather use potato starch, mix 4 tablespoons potato starch in ¼ cup vegetable broth before adding it to the pot.
This is great! I would avoid using Teflon pans though. Teflon leaks to the food which is no bueno. Just sharing my thoughts. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it 🙂
Hey RG! Do you have your recipes written out? Videos are blocked at my work!
Hi Ava! I just updated the post with the written recipe. I hope that helps! There’s also a second version (if you want to stay away from using instant vegetarian broth): https://www.astigvegan.com/how-to-make-vegan-pancit-palabok-2/ Let me know if you need anything else. Sorry about the late reply!
Yay! Thank you!!