My Father-in-law emigrated here from the Philippines when he was but a mischievous teenager. And, he brought with him some killer cooking skills. While most of his recipes are a bit meat forward but, he always ‘woks’ up some extra veg for me at dinner, which gets him a ton of points in my books. One of his best dishes is the traditional filipino pancit. This is the recipe he got from his mom, my husbands “Lola,” and the secrets of this dish are finally mine. I’m not going to share all the family secrets with you but I can give you a base recipe, that will allow you take this naturally vegan dish and kick it up with your choice of protein or extra veggies to make it into a meal.

Here is what you need:

• 1 package of thin bun tuoi or vermicelli noodles
  (hit up the asian food aisle and save your self a few $$$,
  plus its where they keep the good stuff)
• 3 medium carrots – julienne (you can buy these pre-shredded but
  they are never thin enough so you may want to shred your own.
• 1 medium onion – chopped
• 3 stocks of celery – thin sliced
• garlic (about 3-4 pieces crushed depending on your taste)
• 1 half-1 whole head of cabbage – shredded thin
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 cup of vegetable or chicken broth
• 1/4 cup of sesame oil
• oyster or fish sauce to taste
• green onion, sesame, lemon, and parsley to top and garnish

 

Instructions:

1. In a large frying pan or wok, sate the onion, garlic, celery and carrots until slightly browned with sesame oil.
2. Add your protein choice (cook up firm tofu, chicken or shrimp in advance and toss in) cabbage, seasoning and broth and bring dish to a boil.
3. Add your noodles and continue to stir to keep them from forming a giant clump. Rice noodles are not a walk away till its cooked noodle!
4. Add more broth or water as the noodles absorb the moisture to make sure they stay moist and do not start burning to the bottom.
5. Add a bit more sesame oil to get things sizzling.
6. remove from heat as soon as the noodles are fully hydrated and carrots are cooked.
7. Plate and top with seeds, minced green onion and garnish and finish with a squeeze of lemon.

Extra ingredients you might want to add:

• Shrimp fried in sesame oil
• snow peas
• chilli peppers
• peanuts
• beansprouts
• fried chicken (use chicken thighs for an authentic taste)
• scrambled egg
• stir fried swiss chard or other leafy greens
• thin sliced bell peppers, mushroom or eggplant (not traditional but great way to pump the nutrients in this meal)