Palabok Recipe

I usually make Pancit Palabok when there is a party to cook for, like a birthday or a fiesta. It has an orange sauce over the noodles, finished with shrimp, sliced egg, chicharon, tinapa flakes, and scallions. Even Jollibee has its own palabok on the menu. Unlike an everyday pancit bihon guisado where everything gets tossed together in one pan, palabok is built in parts and put together only at the end.

The sauce is where the flavor comes from, so I build mine with tinapa flakes simmered right in, not just sprinkled on at the end. The noodles need a soak before they boil, too, or they stay hard in the middle.

One thing I watch closely is the sauce thickness. Palabok sauce should coat the noodles like a loose gravy instead of sitting on top like paste, so I stir in the flour slurry a little at a time and stop as soon as it clings to the spoon. If it tightens too much while you are plating, a splash of water loosens it right back.

What Is Pancit Palabok?

Pancit Palabok is a Filipino noodle dish with a thick orange sauce made from ground pork, shrimp, and annatto. The noodles are boiled, then topped with the sauce and finished with tinapa flakes, shrimp, hard-boiled egg, chicharon, and scallions. Like other Filipino pancit, it started as a Chinese noodle dish. The word palabok refers to embellishment, in this case the sauce and toppings layered over the noodles.

You usually see palabok at fiestas, birthdays, and Noche Buena. It is often served on a bilao, a wide bamboo tray that holds a big batch for everyone to share.

Palabok differs from a stir-fried pancit mainly in the method. You cook the sauce, the noodles, and the toppings separately, then layer them only when it is time to eat. A squeeze of calamansi goes over each serving right before eating.

What Is the Difference Between Palabok, Pancit Malabon, and Pancit Luglug?

People mix up Palabok with Pancit Malabon and Pancit Luglug all the time. The sauce is similar across all three, so the clearest differences are in the noodles and the toppings.

• Pancit Palabok usually uses bihon rice noodles or the cornstarch sticks sold as palabok noodles, both thinner than the thick noodles in Malabon and Luglug. The sauce and toppings go on top.
• Pancit Malabon uses thick rice noodles and more seafood, with squid, oysters, or mussels alongside the shrimp. The sauce is usually mixed through the noodles.
• Pancit Luglug is a Pampanga specialty. The name comes from luglug, the way the thick noodles are cooked, dipped again and again in boiling water in a basket until they soften.

The palabok family stretches a little further, too. There is even arroz palabok, the same sauce and toppings spooned over rice porridge instead of noodles.

Ingredients

• Palabok noodles – The cornstarch sticks sold as palabok noodles at the Asian store. Thin bihon rice noodles also work.

Sauce ingredients:

• Pork shoulder – I slice it into small pieces so it turns tender as the sauce simmers. Pork belly works too if you want it richer.
• Shrimp Cube – Seasons the sauce with shrimp flavor so I do not have to boil a separate stock. One cube is enough for this batch.
• Tinapa flakes – Smoked fish flakes, for the smoky flavor.
• Annatto water – The source of the orange color. Soak the seeds in warm water, then strain so no seeds land in the sauce.
• All-purpose flour – Thickens the sauce. Mix it with water into a smooth slurry first so it will not clump.
• Fish sauce – I use it in place of salt to season the sauce.
• Cooking oil – For sauteing the pork.
• Ground black pepper – Stirred in at the end.

For the toppings:

• Shrimp – Peeled and deveined. I cook them quickly in the noodle water so they stay tender.
• Napa cabbage – A quick one-minute blanch keeps it slightly crisp.
• Hard-boiled eggs – Sliced into quarters and laid over the top.
• Chicharon – Crushed pork rinds. Add it right before serving so it does not go soft in the sauce.
• Scallions – Chopped and scattered over the finished dish.
• Calamansi or lime – I always squeeze some over right before eating.

Tinapa is Filipino smoked fish, usually milkfish (bangus) or herring (tamban), and the flakes carry much of the smoky, salty flavor in the sauce. Outside the Philippines, look for tinapa flakes in the freezer or dry goods aisle of a Filipino or Asian market. If you cannot find them, smoked trout or smoked mackerel has a similar smoky, salty flavor. Peel off any skin and flake the fish before it goes on.

There are three parts to this Pancit Palabok: the noodles, the sauce, and the toppings. I work through them in that order and assemble the plate last.

1. Soak the palabok noodles in water for about 30 minutes, or follow the timing on the package, then drain.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the soaked noodles and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft.
3. Drain the noodles well and place them in a large bowl.
4. Cover the bowl so the noodles stay soft while you work on the sauce.

The noodles should be soft but not falling apart. If they still have a hard core, give them a few more minutes in the water. These times are for the cornstarch palabok sticks; thin bihon cooks much faster, so start checking it early.

1. Using the same pot of boiling water, add the shrimp and cook for about 1½ minutes, until they turn pink and opaque, then remove and set aside.
2. Add the Napa cabbage and boil for 1 minute, then remove and set aside.

1. Heat the cooking oil in a clean pot, then add the pork and saute until light brown.
2. Pour in the fish sauce and annatto water and stir, then add the water. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 18 minutes, until the pork is tender.
3. Remove the cover, then add the Shrimp Cube and tinapa flakes and cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Stir the flour slurry into the pot a little at a time until the sauce thickens, then season with ground black pepper.

Mix the flour with the water until completely smooth before it goes in, and pour it in slowly while stirring. Adding dry flour straight to the hot sauce is what makes it turn out lumpy. If the sauce ever gets thicker than a loose gravy, stir in a little water to loosen it.

1. Place the noodles on a serving plate and pour the sauce over them.
2. Top with the Napa cabbage, shrimp, and sliced eggs, then sprinkle the chicharon and scallions. Serve with calamansi or lime on the side.

What to Serve with Pancit Palabok

• Lumpia – Crispy fried spring rolls. I almost always have them on the table when I serve palabok.
• Tokwa’t Baboy – Tofu and pork in a soy-vinegar dip. I like the sharp, sour bite next to a plate of palabok.
• Pandesal – Soft bread rolls for scooping up leftover sauce. I like to tuck a little palabok inside a warm one for a quick sandwich.
• Calamansi on the side – Set out a small dish of halved calamansi so everyone can squeeze on as much as they like.

Storage

Palabok is a party dish, so I almost always end up with leftovers, and the trick is to store the parts on their own. The noodles keep drinking up the sauce as they sit, and if you box everything together overnight, you open the fridge to one soft, sauce-logged clump.

• Refrigerator: Keep the sauce, noodles, and toppings in separate airtight containers for up to 3 days. I plate each serving fresh, sauce first and then the toppings, so even a day-three plate feels like I just made it.
• Freezer: The sauce is the part that freezes well, and it keeps for up to 2 months. I never freeze the noodles or toppings, since they turn soft and lose their bite, so I cook those fresh when I am ready for round two.
• Reheating: Warm the sauce gently with a splash of water to loosen it, then toss it through the noodles and pile the toppings back on. A fresh squeeze of calamansi brings it right back to life.

More Pancit Recipes

If palabok pulls you into the world of pancit, here are a few more from the site that I cook on repeat.

• Pancit Canton – Wheat noodles with pork, shrimp, and vegetables, all tossed in one pan. This is my everyday, no-occasion-needed kind of pancit.
• Pancit Sotanghon – Made with clear, slippery glass noodles instead of rice sticks. I turn to it when I want something a little lighter than palabok.
• Pancit Habhab – From Lucban, eaten straight off a banana leaf with no fork in sight. Messy, and half the fun is in that.
• Pancit Cabagan – A saucy Isabela dish made with fresh miki noodles and topped with crispy pork (lechon carajay) and quail eggs.
• Pancit Bato Guisado – Made with the springy dried noodles that come from Bato, Camarines Sur.
• Pancit Batil Patung – From Tuguegarao, topped with a poached egg and served with a side of egg-drop soup. It is a full meal on its own.

• Palabok noodles – Thin bihon rice noodles work if you cannot find cornstarch sticks. Just start checking them early, since bihon cooks much faster and goes soft in a hurry.
• Tinapa flakes – Smoked trout or smoked mackerel is what I reach for when tinapa is nowhere to be found. Flake it and peel off the skin first.
• Knorr Shrimp Cube – If you buy shrimp with the heads on, crush the heads and use their juice for flavor instead. You can also skip the cube and use a fresh shrimp stock in place of the water; if the stock is already seasoned, taste before adding all the fish sauce.
• Pork shoulder – Pork belly makes a richer sauce, which is how I like it for a party. Ground pork is fine and cooks faster on a busy day.
• Napa cabbage – Pechay blanches up the same way. I go with green beans when I want something that stays firm and crunchy against the soft noodles.
• All-purpose flour – Cornstarch makes a glossier sauce. Use about half the amount, around 3 tablespoons here, mixed into a slurry with cold water and stirred in near the end until the sauce thickens.

When I make Pancit Palabok, I go heavy on the chicharon and toasted garlic at the end, more than looks reasonable, because that crunch on top is my favorite part. Watch the video below to see how thick the sauce should get before you take it off the heat.