Pancit a la Anna

Pancit!

I went to the farmer's market in town a couple of weekends ago. At one of the stands there, I saw some people sell pancit.

When I was invited to a potluck lunch for a co-worker who's retiring, I thought of making pancit.

What is pancit? Pancit is basically a noodle dish from the Philippines. It was influenced by Chinese cooking. Pancit is very similar to a Chinese stir fry. Pancit is usually reserved for big celebrations such as birthdays (or in this case, retirements) as the noodles represent longevity. It is bad luck to cut or break noodles, so the noodles are usually cooked and eaten whole. No breaking up of noodles. A true pancit has chicken, shrimp and pork. You can also make a vegetarian pancit by substituting meaty mushrooms for the meat. There are a lot of ways to make pancit. I decided to make a vegetarian pancit. Note that it is not vegan, as it has eggs. I would call this ovo vegetarian pancit.

Ingredients:

2 packages rice vermicelli

Olive oil 

2 packages fresh mixed mushrooms

1 package frozen snap peas

Organic green cabbage
Organic carrots
 

Garnish:

1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can baby corn

4 eggs

Sauce:

Thai fish sauce, to taste
Gluten free tamari, to taste
Lemon juice, to taste

Directions:

Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Turn off the heat. Put in the vermicelli whole. Do not break it up into smaller pieces. Let the vermicelli soak for at least 30 minutes.

Shred the cabbage in a food processor. Shred the carrots in a food processor.

Wash the mushrooms in a bowl and drain. Drizzle some olive oil in a saute pan and pour in the mushrooms. Cook over medium heat until the mushrooms have released all of the liquid and browned. When the mushrooms are done, put them aside in a bowl or on a plate. Leave any juices in the pan.

To the same pan, add the cabbage, carrots and snap peas. Let cook until tender.

Drain the vermicelli.

Put the vegetables in a big bowl and put the vermicelli over.

Make the sauce - thai fish sauce, soy sauce - all to taste. It's all about balance. If it tastes good, it will be good in the pancit. The sauce is like fine wine. Add the sauce to the noodles and vegetables. Stir, stir, and stir until the noodles are coated with the vegetables and sauce. When you think you're done, stir again. I thought it took a long time to get everything evenly distributed througout. I kept stirring!

Garnish with hard boiled eggs, diced baby corn and water chestnuts. Extra sauce can be served on the side in case people want extra seasoning in their pancit.

This can be eaten warm or cold.

So good!