Here’s another one of the festive pancit dishes you can try to make at home–the Pancit Malabon! It is one of the more famous versions of pancit and is definitely flavorful and is sure to fill your stomachs and make your faces light up.
This can be made for your family to enjoy, or for special occasions and large gatherings, so learn how to make this pancit dish now by reading the recipe article below.
What is Pancit Malabon?
Pancit Malabon is a well-known type of Filipino pancit dish that is stir-fried. It involves a sauce based on annatto powder, shrimp broth, and flavor seasoned with fish sauce and–in some recipes–crab fat. The pancit originated in the city of Malabon in Metro Manila, which is where its name came from.
Meat toppings used in pancit malabon can include pork, hard-boiled eggs, crushed chicharon or pork rinds, chopped onions, minced garlic, and juice of calamansi or lemon.
Additional flavor and texture such as fresh seafood toppings which you can easily find in wet markets are usually added such as smoked milkfish, cooked shrimp, squid, mussels, and some oysters.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Noodles
You will be using store-bought thick rice noodles for this dish. You can also use thin rice noodles if you prefer them.
Toppings
Pancit Malabon has a big range of toppings you may put on your noodles. I suggest you try to complete the list in this recipe, but of course, you could opt to remove some items if you can’t find them.
Aside from this, you will also use common pantry ingredients like salt, black pepper, and cooking oil. If you are filling up your pantry, here’s a handy shopping guide:
Equipment You’ll Need
- Cooking Pot (Kaldero)– We will use a deep cooking pot or casserole to boil and cook the pancit.
- Cooking Pan (Kawali)- We will also need a cooking pan deep enough to cook the topping sauce.
In need of kitchen tools and equipment? Read this before you buy:
How to Make Pancit Malabon
The process of making pancit malabon is pretty much the usual thing you do when cooking. But it can be pretty gruelling since it involves a lot of ingredients. Making this a successful dish can be pretty satisfying though, on the bright side!
To avoid any confusion, just visualize the process of what you need to do: First, cook the meats and seafood, then the vegetables, the sauce, and then the noodles. After that you’re just going to mix them all together.
When cooking the meat ingredients, it is advisable to cut them as equal as possible so they can be evenly cooked in the pan. Cutting it in smaller sizes is also good as the insides will be cooked easily and the whole dish will be more flavorful in every bite.
When cooking the vegetables, try to remember that your goal is to blanche them. This is because it will still be cooked once you mix all the ingredients, and vegetables can be easily overcooked.
Overcooked vegetables will result in them being soggy, and it will give a quite unpleasant feeling when eating the pancit.
Cooking Tips
- When adding the sauce into the pancit malabon, just gently press down the noodles into the sauce for it to absorb the flavors of the ingredients more. You can also add in a thickener such as rice flour or cornstarch if you want a thicker sauce for the noodles.
How to Serve Pancit Malabon
Most of the time Pancit Malabon or pancit in general is considered as food served in celebrations. This means it won’t be served alone but with other food that goes well with it.
Pancit palabok is best paired with other celebratory food like the rice cake Puto, the Lumpiang Shanghai, and of course, your favorite cola soda.
How to Store and Reheat Pancit Malabon
In case you have leftovers, store the pancit and the sauce separately in clean food containers with lid. Refrigerate in to extend their shelf life for up to 3 days.
To reheat the pancit, simply blanch in boiling water until soft and rehydrated. To reheat the sauce, you can either use a microwave oven or over a stove top.
Other Versions of Pancit
There are many types of pancit dishes that you can find all over the country. These dishes almost always include a variety of ingredients topped into the noodles, but they are prepared differently, depending on the availability of the ingredients from the area and depending on the culture.
Here are some of the versions of pancit you can also try:
- Pancit Palabok
- Pancit Lusay
- Pancit Bihon
- Pancit Canton
- Pancit Sotanghon Guisado Recipe
- Pancit Habhab
- Pancit Lomi
- Pancit Molo
- Pancit Luglug
For a quick reference about this recipe, see the recipe table below:
Authentic Pancit Malabon Recipe
Equipment
- Cooking Pot
- Cooking Pan
Ingredients
Noodle Ingredients
- 500 g (1.1 lbs) thick rice noodles
- 5 cups water, or as needed
Topping Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) pork belly
- 250 g (8.8 oz) shrimp, shelled and cooked
- 1 cup tinapa flakes, heated
- ½ cup pork rind, chicharon
- 2 cups napa cabbage, shredded and blanched
- 1 pc medium-sized onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp fried garlic bits
- 2 tbsp annatto powder
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 cup shrimp stock, or water
- 3 pcs hard-boiled eggs
- 1 pc lemon (or 3 to 4 pcs calamansi), cut into wedges
- 2 cups water, or as needed
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Topping Instructions
- In a cooking pan, pour-in water and bring to a boil.
- Add-in the pork belly. Cook until lightly browned. Dry with paper towels and set aside.
- In a cooking pan, pour-in and heat oil over medium heat.
- Add-in the onions, and garlic. Saute until soft and aromatic.
- Add-in the pork belly. Cook for 3 minutes or until crisp. Season with fish sauce, salt and pepper
- Dilute annatto powder in ¼ cup of shrimp stock, and then pour into the pot. Pour-in the rest of the shrimp stock and bring to a boil. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
Noodle Instructions
- In a deep container, soak the rice noodles for 10 to 30 minutes in water or until soft enough.
- In a cooking pot, pour-in the water and bring to a boil.
- Add-in the rice noodles. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until firm. Drain excess water.
- Transfer to a serving tray or serving plate. Pour-in the sauce and then top with shrimp, tinapa flakes, pork rind, napa cabbage, hard-boiled egg, lemon, and fried garlic bits.
Notes
Nutrition
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I like to try your recipe for pancit palabok.
Thank you