Pancit Bihon

Pancit bihon is a Filipino rice-noodle dish. Vanjo Merano’s selected recipe combines bihon with thinly sliced pork, cooked deboned chicken, carrots, cabbage, celery leaves and optional snow peas, cooking the noodles in the seasoned liquid.

The rice noodles soak in a separate container of water. Garlic and chopped onion sauté in cooking oil before the pork and prepared chicken are added to the wok.

Chicken powder and water create the cooking liquid, followed by carrots, snow peas, cabbage and finely chopped celery leaves. The cooked meat and vegetables are lifted out, leaving the liquid behind.

Soy sauce seasons the reserved liquid, then the drained bihon noodles cook in it until the liquid evaporates. The same cooked vegetables and meat return to the wok for a short final simmer.

The finished noodles are served hot. Merano enjoys this pancit with lumpia and describes calamansi squeezed over individual servings as a tangy counterpart to the noodles’ savoury seasoning.