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Vegetarian pancit bihon
A staple of many Filipino tables, always popular, with as many variations as cities in the Philippines, pancit packs all your veggies, protein, and starch into one dish.
My favorite variation is luglug: traditionally, shrimp sauce poured over rice noodles and topped with hard-boiled eggs, chicharon, green onions, fried garlic and baby shrimp. It's about as treif as you can get.
Unlike adobo, sinigang, and afritada, which are easy to make with kosher meats, mock meats, or beans, luglug's distinctive flavor isn't easily reproduced in the vegetarian sphere. Until I figure it out, I'll focus on the pancit variations that can be made vegetarian without much trouble.
The defining characteristic of pancit bihon is the noodle. Rice stick noodles are delicate, breaking easily if you stir-fry them too much. Because they're skinny, almost like capellini, they cook quickly. I typically add them at the end of the dish, when I'm steaming it in broth.
As with most stir-fries, you can throw in whatever crunchy vegetables or greens you want. I like to julienne the carrots and celery so that they're easier to stir with the noodles, but their shape is really up to you.
The following is a basic recipe. I like to add a little chili and sometimes mushrooms to mine.
Vegetarian pancit bihon
1 tsp - 1 Tbsp oil, for frying
3 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, julienned
1 celery stalk, julienned
8 oz seitan, mock chicken, or tofu (brown the tofu before using)
1 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp achiote
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
salt and pepper
1 cup vegetable or mushroom broth
1 package rice stick noodles
1. Heat a wok or large pan over medium-high heat. Add oil.
2. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds, or until fragrant.
3. Add onions, carrots, and celery, and saute until carrots are tender, about 3 minutes.
4. Add seitan and saute until it begins to brown.
5. Once vegetables and seitan are nicely browned (by now there should be some delicious caramelized stuff on the bottom of the pan, stir in ginger, soy sauce, achiote, vinegar, salt and pepper.
6. Pour in vegetable broth. Add rice stick noodles and cover pan, leaving a little crack to allow steam to escape. Make sure the noodles are submerged.
7. Once all the liquid is gone, it's done. Serve hot.
Garnish with a chopped hard boiled egg, some green onions, fried garlic, and a few squeezes of calamansi.
