Mommy B's Palabok with Bacon Recipe

A few weeks ago, I have amassed almost 4 kilos of free bihon (rice noodles) from SM Savemore Supermarket. Hahaha. They come free with a 3-pack 1.5 liter coke bottles. Everytime Daddy A drops by the supermarket to buy groceries he'd call and ask me which free item with coke I'd want him to bring home. Recently its been a choice between a can of SM Bonus Sweet Corn or a pack of SM Bonus Bihon. Since I already have 4 large cans of (free!!) SM Bonus Sweet Corn and I still dont have any idea what to do with them, I've always replied "Bihon please". I didn't notice how it looked like I was a bihon hoarder until I have almost filled up half of my pantry with it.

Fortunately, the in laws came to visit and I was able to send half of the hoard with them. The other half I kept, promising myself I would cook sotanghon soup (yeah I know, using bihon noodles hahaha) for dinner.

Did cook it.

Didn't turn out right 😂😂😂.

And got a handful of complaints from my main client (Daddy A) of how weird it tasted. It must've been pretty traumatic because after that he wouldn't come anywhere near my bihon sotanghon soup again lol.

So then I have to think up of a new idea on how to put those bihon noodles into good use. That's where my palabok recipe came in. I asked Daddy A one day if he would like pancit palabok for dinner, tried cooking it for the first time that day, and it was a hit! Well, almost. Haha.

My first try, I followed a recipe on google and Daddy A didnt think I cooked the noodles enough. But it turned out fine since the next day the remaining palabok noodles got "shipped" to the inlaws for merienda and was reheated by being submerged in boiled water for a minute more so they got cooked alright.

That's why in my succeeding cooking sessions with palabok I made sure to check the doneness of the noddles before taking them off the heat. Just enough that they wont come out overcooked and soggy but cooked enough so that they are not rubbery either. I find cooking the noodles for 4-7 minutes enough for my family's preferred noodle texture.

Cooking the palabok is quite easy. It's the preparation of all the toppings that's hard since there are quite a lot of them. You can even customize the toppings and add whatever topping you feel like adding. The one I made didn't have spring onions because we dont really like it. Lol. And I replaced the tinapa (smoked fish) flakes with bacon because, well, its bacon. 😁

Anyway, here, I have outlined all the procedures as easily as possible. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Toppings Ingredients

(You may increase or decrease all quantities here as per your preference)

4 hardboiled eggs

6 crispy fried bacon strips and crushed into bits (use bacon grease to sautee garlic and set aside remaining grease for the sauce later)

1 head of garlic minced and sauteed in bacon oil til brown

Crushed chicharon (pork cracklings)

Spring onions minced (optional)

Calamansi

Bihon Noodles Ingredients

500 grams bihon noodles

8 cups water

1 shrimp broth cube (10g)

Salt and pepper

Bihon Noodles Cooking Procedure

1. Boil 8 cups of water, add the broth cubes and salt.

2. Cook bihon for around 4-7 minutes. Bihon noodles tend to absorb a lot of water so just add more if water is running low. The noodles become opaque white and is no longer rubbery to the bite when cooked. Drain bihon and set aside drained water to be added to the sauce later.

Palabok Sauce Ingredients

1 teaspoon anato (atsuete) seeds and 1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 small sized onion minced

5 cloves garlic minced

1/4 kilo ground pork

1 pork broth cube (10g)

1 tablespoon soysauce

3 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup frozen peeled shrimp

6 tablespoons cornstarch diluted in 1/2 cup water

Salt and pepper

Palabok Sauce Cooking Procedure

1. Mix the water and anato seeds then mash together till the orange color comes out. Remove seeds from water and set aside.

2. Add 1 tablespoon cooking oil to the remaining bacon grease  from toppings then sautee garlic, onion, and ground pork. Stir in salt, pepper, pork broth cube, soysauce, then add the anato water.

3. Continuosly stir until the mixture almost dries up then add the remaining drained water from the bihon noodles. Add the 3 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Change to medium heat, add the shrimp. Add the cornstarch mixture and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until sauce thickens.

4. Pour over bihon noodles, add the toppings, serve hot and enjoy!