RECIPE - Pancit Palabok (Rice Noodles with Seafood Gravy) From Scratch

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𝚂𝚎𝚊𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝙿𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚂𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑!

Friends and family have been asking me for years how I make my version of Palabok, and I’ve always found it hard to give a response because I never really measure anything when I make this dish. I’ve been making this for years that I have become familiar with the way I cook this dish and in achieving the flavors that I want from this dish. However, I had free time in the week so I finally grabbed a pen and notebook and took down the measurements I used to make my version of Palabok.

Please note that my version of Palabok is seafood-based. My previous Palabok post had ground pork in it, but this one doesn’t. Having said this, I actually use pork cube in this recipe (gasp! it’s not fully from scratch?!? ). More on this later lololol. Also, this recipe serves 12-14 people. This is quite a lot. This from scratch recipe is laborious to make, it’s best to share this with your friends and family who will taste your masterpiece. Don’t worry, they will love you more for it! :) Lastly, since this is a from scratch recipe, it’s quite lengthy and it takes quite some time to make. If you are okay with peeling and de-veining shrimp, then read more.

I recommend mixing together left over noodles with the sauce and garnish and place in the fridge. The sauce will taste even better the following day!

Without further ado, I present to you my Palabok from scratch recipe. I am so excited to share this with you!

HOW TO MAKE

INGREDIENTS

For the noodles:

3-4 packs of 450 g rice flour noodles (aka Bihon noodles in Tagalog), cooked to package specification

For the shrimp stock:

400 g frozen or fresh shrimp (peel the shell and remove the head to make shrimp stock; devein the meat and reserve meat for the sauce)

4 cups water

1.5 tsp salt

For the rest of the sauce:

1 bulb garlic, diced or smashed to small bits

1 big onion, diced

50 grams smoked fish flakes

1.5 cups fish sauce

2 packs 340 g pressed tofu, cut in small, bite sized pieces

1 cube each pork & shrimp bullion (yes, not from scratch! the shrimp stock alone and fish sauce isn’t enough to flavor this dish)

3 packs of 10g annatto powder

8 cups hot water (boiled beforehand from a kettle or a thermos)

1 cup room temperature water

8 tbsp cornstarch

1 kg frozen shrimp (you can buy peeled and de-veined shrimp already)

700 g frozen or fresh squid rings

For the garnish:

6-8 hard-boiled eggs, sliced in quarters

1 bunch green onions, chopped

crushed up chicharon

fried garlic

smoked fish flakes

lemon wedges

fish sauce

PROCEDURE

1. Make your stock. Combine shrimp stock ingredients in a pot and place on top of stove on medium high heat. Let the stock boil then reduce heat to medium. Simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes. Keep pressing down on the shells occasionally to extract as much flavor as possible. Set aside and make your sauce.

2. Make the sauce. Place a large pot or dutch oven on a medium high heat stove, add oil then saute garlic & onion to sweat. Then add the smoked fish flakes, sauteing until it gets a bit brown or covered in oil, around 1-2 minutes. It the fish flakes absorbs the oil and becomes too dry, add a bit more cooking oil. Add fish sauce, and saute for about 1-2 minutes. Add chopped tofu. Be careful not to break apart tofu as much as possible. Add the shrimp stock from Step 1 and let boil.

3. While waiting for the pot to boil, dissolve & whisk together the shrimp and pork cubes, and annatto powder packets into the 8 cups of hot water in a separate big bowl. Once the seasoning and annatto powder have dissolved well, pour sauce into the pot. Mix well and let the sauce boil once again, about 2-3 minutes.

4. While waiting for the sauce to boil, make a slurry with the cornstarch and remaining 1 cup of room temperature water. Once the sauce is boiling in the pot, slowly add cornstarch slurry while mixing sauce consistently until it thickens. The sauce would normally thicken almost instantaneously after adding the cornstarch slurry.

5. Reduce heat to low high to medium. Add all seafood (shrimp and squid rings) in to the pot, and let sauce simmer. This usually takes 5-10 minutes. The sauce should look bright orange and the consistency must be a bit thick but still runny. Turn off heat.

6. Assemble the dish by placing noodles on a plate and pouring a generous amount of sauce. Garnish with boiled eggs, crushed up chicharon, fried garlic bits, green onions, smoked fish flakes, a drizzle of fish sauce and a bit of lemon juice.

7. Enjoy!

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