PANCIT PALABOK

PANCIT PALABOK

#SIAintheKitchen

This was some serious work.

It always drove me insane whenever I saw the Mama Sita mixes in the store. Or when I asked my Filipino foods how to make certain dishes from scratch they say they’d use a bouillon cube or something. So frustrating!

I’m more or less a purist and I usually demand to make everything from scratch, even if it’s the most daunting recipes. I decided to challenge myself this week with making pancit palabok from scratch. Oh boy.

Yeah, I can see why this dish can be daunting. Making shrimp stock, pork stock, and all of the toppings can be a lot of work but since I already had pork stock on hand, how hard could making shrimp stock be? Not terribly hard but it’s a bit of work beheading all of the shrimp, de-shelling and de-veining them, cleaning them and making your stock base.

Two ways to make stock: simply by using the heads and shells of the shrimp and water or by taking it one step further and blitzing it in your food processor or blender to really extract that concentrated shrimp flavour out. I went with the latter and had shrimp stock splash all over my newly-cleaned kitchen. Be aware of that maximum liquid line in your food processor or end up with a funky-smelling kitchen!

Also, I wanted more of a concentrated shrimp flavour and although I know it isn’t traditional, I snuck in some bagoong and finely minced dried shrimp. I don’t care if it’s not traditional. Some recipes I saw had bacon in it and I just scoffed. This is my own version of it, complete with maximum umami. I loved the flavour of it and I’m so happy with how it turned out.

PANCIT PALABOK - makes 4 - 6 servings

Shrimp stock:

• 1 lb raw white shrimp with shells and heads on

• 1 tsp black peppercorns

• 2 bayleaves

• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Palabok sauce:

• 4 tbsp annatto seeds

• 1/4 cup boiling water

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 head garlic, minced

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1/2 Spanish onion, diced

• 1 lb lean ground pork

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 quart shrimp stock

• 1 pint pork stock

• 1 tbsp bagoong (fine shrimp paste)

• 1 tbsp minced fried shrimp paste in soybean oil

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• freshly-ground black pepper

Noodles:

• 400g cornstarch noodles, soaked in hot water

Toppings:

• 2 cups crushed chicharron

• 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

• 1 bunch scallions, sliced

• 1 (398ml) can mackerel, drained, flaked and mixed with a few squirts of liquid smoke

• 1 lemon, halved and quartered

• 1/4 cup fried garlic

• 1 lb cooked shrimp

1. In a small ramekin, combine the annatto seeds and hot boiling water. Set aside and let steep for 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the shrimp stock by twisting the heads off of the shrimp and peeling off the shells completely. Make a shallow incision in the back of each shrimp and de-vein. Set the unpeeled shrimp aside.

3. Place the heads and shells of the shrimp in a medium-sized pot and cover with water. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns and bring the stock to a boil. As the stock boils, skim off any foam and discard. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer for an hour. Add kosher salt to taste.

4. Transfer the heads and shells to a food processor and half of the stock. Blend on high and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Combine with the other half of liquid stock and set aside.

5. In a large wok, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until glistening. Add in the minced garlic and fry until darkened and crispy, about 3 minutes, depending on how finely minced the garlic is. Remove the fried garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.

6. Season the shrimp with kosher salt on both sides and cook in the same wok until opaque, a couple minutes on each side. Remove from heat and set aside.

7. Add additional oil and add in the onions. Cook until translucent until some colour begins to show, about 4 minutes. Add in the ground pork and brown until fully cooked, about 5 minutes. Add in the bagoong, fish sauce and fried minced shrimp in oil. Discard the annatto seeds and pour in the annatto seed water to the pork to give the sauce colour. Add in the pork and shrimp stock, leaving 1 cup of shrimp stock aside. Bring the sauce to a boil and skim off any remaining foam or scum.

8. Whisk the remaining shrimp stock with flour and whisk into the sauce. Allow for the sauce to thicken and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour until the sauce reduces further.

9. Cook the noodles in a pot of boiling water for 8 minutes, drain and distribute into bowls. Ladle some of the palabok sauce on the noodles along with the chicharron, fried garlic, scallions, smoked mackerel, shrimp, hard-boiled egg and a lemon wedge.