PANCIT

Dried noodles (canton style) for sale at the Bulusan market

PANCIT (pan-seet) is the most obvious Filipino dish that was brought to the Philippines by China. There are as many permutations as there are kinds of noodles (most made of rice flour or bean flour) and ingredients mixed in. Just think of the many kinds of pasta, and the many kinds of things that can go in it, and the many kinds of sauces possible. PANCIT is the Filipino pasta. Yet I’ve heard stories that even in the land of pasta, real Pinoys yearn for pancit. It is said that in Rome, on any given Sunday, you can get your pancit fix, doled out from the trunks of cars, parked near the piazzas. On Filipino birthday celebrations, you will find pancit. Tradition has it that you and your guests must eat pancit on your birthday, for a good long life. Check out the noodle brands, some will have the words "long life" somewhere on the label. Not sure anymore if this is a Chinese tradition, or a Filipino tradition, or both.

PANCIT BIHON
1 lb. skinless chicken breast
1 lb. lean pork, fat trimmed
1 lb. small shrimp, shelled
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Chinese cabbage, shredded
3 carrots, thinly sliced into rectangular
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cup broth, from boiling chicken
1 lb. rice sticks (bihon), soaked in water for 15 minutes then drained
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
1 bunch cilantro leaves chopped
Lime (optional)

Boil chicken and pork in 2 cups water. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; slice meat into small pieces. Reserve the broth. Heat oil in a large, wide saute pan. Saute onions and garlic until onion is translucent. Add sliced meat, shrimp, soy sauce and stir-fry 5 minutes. Over high heat, add cabbage, carrots, celery, salt, pepper and 1 cup of broth. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Set aside 1 cup of mixture. Reduce heat to low and add rice sticks, tossing gently with wooden spoons until cooked through and mixed with meat and vegetables, about 3 minutes. If the mixture seems dry, add more broth. Transfer to platter, garnish with chopped scallions, and cilantro. Squeeze lime over each serving and sprinkle with additional garnishes. Serve with soy sauce.

Recipe from kumain.com

RICE

Filipinos CANNOT live by bread alone. Uncooked rice is called bigas (bee-gus) and cooked it is called kanin (kah-neen.) I could write an entire blog just on rice. Filipino food must always be served with rice, yes, even pancit. Pure carbo-loading. There was a time when the Philippines was known for rice, and was a major rice exporter, such that the International Rice Research Institute was established in Laguna, Philippines. Alas, today, the Philippines has to import rice, mainly from Thailand. The most common kind of rice you will find on a Filipino table is boiled white rice, and the favorite in our home is the jasmine variety. Not as sticky as Japanese rice, or dry as Cal-Rose, or oily like Latin rice. White rice is simply rice and water, no oil, no butter.

Any Filipino worth his shoe collection is a rice eater. I wish I had statistics to tell you how many Filipinos have failed on the Atkins diet because they could not stand not eating rice anymore. Tonight we served you garlic fried rice, a breakfast staple. Fried because the cook used the leftover rice from the night before. You got fresh rice tonight, not leftovers but the best kind of rice to use to make good fried rice is “old” rice called bahaw (bah-how), not freshly boiled rice or it will be too sticky. Day old rice is perfect. In a pinch with no old rice, you can throw fresh cooked rice in the freezer for a couple of hours to dry it out, then it will make better fried rice.

WHITE RICE: Rule of Thumb: one cup rice to 1.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil uncovered. At the boil, turn the fire to low, and cover. Keep checking rice until soft and fluffy and cooked through, about 20 minutes for two cups of rice, 3 cups water. (To make it even easier, buy an automatic rice cooker. Use same proportions, switch on, and forget about it until it’s time to eat.)

GARLIC FRIED RICE: Peel garlic and mash. I leave amount to you, I would use half a head for 3 cups cooked rice. Heat up about 3 tbsp oil. Fry garlic until it starts to get brown, then throw in rice and toss. Sprinkle rock salt to taste. Toss about 5 minutes until done. Variation: pour in some soy sauce, to make brown fried rice, Skip the salt in this case. Can also toss in an egg. Toss vigorously to break egg up and end up with fried rice with egg bits. Yum.