What is Pancit Malabon?
Although pancit Malabon is popular with the use of pork and pork cracklings, we will give you recipe for pancit Malabon that is without pork and without sacrificing this noodle’s distinctive taste.
Pancit Malabon is a Filipino dish that is known for its thicker noodles and piquant sauce that creates between golden-yellow or yellow-orange color to its noodles and is made distinct by its generous array of seafood toppings such as shrimp and squid, tinapa flakes, in addition to minced greens, and cracklings. Calamansi, lime, or lemon completes the taste of these noodle dish at serving time.
Origin of Pancit Malabon
The name Pancit Malabon is taken from its origin – the city of Malabon, just north of Manila. Malabon has a population of a little less than half a million in a 15.96 square meter land area close to a river where fishing used to be a major source of livelihood. This makes the ingredients of Pancit Malabon within easy reach and is probably why the dish is named so. The seafood flavor of these delicious noodles truly represents the City it is named after.
This Filipino rice noodle dish is popular during special occasions. It has, however, in recent years, been made available almost everywhere, anytime. This is so because although the traditional ingredients are within reach, recent simplifications to the dish made it easier to capture its taste.
Ingredients
for the noodles
- thick rice noodles (aka noodles for Pancit Malabon or Pancit Luglug, mostly available in Asian Markets)
- ground beef (replacing the rather popular ground pork)
- shrimp water (taken from shrimp heads of the shrimp toppings)
- fresh garlic
- onion
- salt and black pepper powder (or freshly ground black pepper)
- annatto seeds or annatto powder (to produce annatto water)
- cooking oil
- juice of calamansi, lime, or lemon
- patis (fish sauce)
- Chinese Cabbage
- cups of water (to be used sparingly, if at all)
for the toppings
- chicharon (cracklings) from fried chicken skin – as opposed to pork cracklings
- smoked fish flakes (tinapa flakes)
- shrimp or prawns
- kilo squid (cooked (adobo would be best)
- tofu cubes
- eggs
- green onions
- fresh parsley or coriander
- fried garlic bits
How to Cook Pancit Malabon at Home
At first, any pancit Malabon recipe can look daunting, but that is not so, at all. If you have jumped to the recipe here and were intimidated, please chill as we can assure you that cooking this is easier than you (and I) thought. Your succeeding attempts, after your first try, will not be attempts anymore, I guarantee you that. Besides, you will not forget that the taste of pancit Malabon is more interesting than the impression of the cooking details and the number of ingredients.
We have simplified the recipe for this flavorful noodle dish without losing that tempting appearance and the taste it is known for. It is one of the many Filipino noodle dishes that are loved by most.
Prep the ingredients
Get all the ingredients ready within reach; this will save you some time.
- Clean and devein shrimp. Remember to reserve shrimp heads for use in creating shrimp water or shrimp juice.
- Chop the onions finely, and mince garlic.
- Prepare annatto water from (annatto seeds or annatto powder)
- Prepare the shrimp water by chopping the shrimp heads roughly and adding water to it. Stir. Set aside.
- Hard boil eggs. Set aside.
- Boil shrimps, and remove shell. Halve and set aside.
- Dice tofu into 1/2-inch sizes, fry them and set aside.
- Ready the rest of the toppings: tinapa flakes, squid rings (from the squid adobo), sliced hard-boiled egg, ground cracklings; sliced green onions, chopped greens, and fried garlic bits
Cook the noodles and sauce
- Over medium heat, sautee the onions in half a cup of cooking oil until the onions are soft. Yes, you would need this much cooking oil, as we will need it later for the noodles. Don’t worry.
- While sauteeing, boil water (enough to cover the noodles) in another pot. Then place the noodles in water similar to prepping pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, etc.). The test of doneness is when you can pinch the noodles and they do not bounce back. Drain and keep aside.
- Drain shrimp water onto the sauteeing pan with the garlic and onions. Lower the heat and let boil until the mix curdles. Do not be tempted to stir this mixture at this point.
- Add ground beef, mix, and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add annato water.
- Season with salt and ground black pepper.
- Remove a third of the mixture from the pan. Set aside.
- On the same pan, still over medium heat, add the noodles and mix until the color is consistent.
- Add half of the lemon-patis mix and stir gently until the noodles are covered by the lemon-patis mixture.
- Add the Chinese cabbage and mix again until the cabbage limps.
Arrange on Pancit Malabon on the plate
- Place the noodles onto a big serving plate. Scatter the rest of the ground beef mixture and sprinkle/arrange the rest of the ingredients on top.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve with lime or lemon wedges on the side. This becomes handy for those who prefer their pancit Malabon with an additional dash of sourness.
How to Store Leftover Pancit Malabon
Pancit Malabon is quite a demanding dish. It is preferably consumed on the day it is cooked. It is wise to arrange the noodles (as enumerated above) on separate plates, so that leftovers are on separate bowls or containers. All of these can be kept (covered with cling wrap) in the fridge for a couple of days. Then pancit Malabon can be served again using the same method.
If, however, you have leftovers from already-mixed Pancit Malabon, you can keep them in sealed containers in the fridge for a few hours and consume them immediately.
Additional Cooking Tips
- Deleting the shrimp water altogether can be an option. This is helpful in preserving the freshness of the pancit Malabon, i.e., leftovers can last longer in the fridge. To achieve the shrimp taste with the noodles, boil the shrimp heads, drain, and use the shrimp broth to cook the noodles.
- Cooking time for noodles varies depending on the stove’s heat. You may want to start by soaking the noodles in room-temperature water, before putting it in boiling water, then wait until the noodle strands soften. This two easy-step process will shorten the softening time of the noodles.
Porkless Pancit Malabon Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
- Category: Main dish
- Method: cooking
- Cuisine: Filipino
Description
Porkless Pancit Malabon recipe without sacrificing this noodle’s distinctive taste.
Ingredients
For the noodles
- 500g thick rice noodles
- 1/4 k ground beef
- 1–1/2 cups shrimp water
- 6 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 large onion (diced finely)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup annatto water (from annatto powder or annatto seeds)
- 1/2 cup cooking oil
- 1/2 cup calamansi or lemon juice mixed with 1/4 cup patis (divided)
- 2 cups Chinese Cabbage (shredded roughly)
For the toppings
- 1 cup crushed chicharon (from crunchy-fried chicken skin)
- 1/2 k shrimps (steamed, peeled, and halved)
- 1/4 kilo cooked squid rings (adobo would be best))
- 4 hard-boiled eggs (sliced)
- 1 cup fried diced tofu
- 1/4 cup smoked fish flakes
- 1/2 cup spring onions (chopped finely)
- 4 tbsp fried garlic bits
- Calamansi/lemon slices
Instructions
- Ready noodles according to package instructions.
- Sautee garlic and onion in cooking oil. Add shrimp water and let boil until they curdle.
- Add ground beef and cook for a few more minutes. Add annatto water, salt, and pepper. Simmer. Scoop out half the mixture and set aside, leaving most of the oil in the pan.
- Add the noodles to the mixture in the pan and stir until the noodles are well-coated. Add the Chinese cabbage and citrus juice/patis mixture. Stir again making sure the taste of the citrus and patis is evenly distributed.
- Place in a serving plate big enough to accommodate the noodles and cover with the rest of the ground beef mixture and the toppings.
- Serve with calamansi or lemon wedges on the side.
