Pancit Bihon

Ingredients

• 250 g bihon rice vermicelli
• 350 g chicken thighs, sliced thin
• 120 g chinese sausage, sliced
• 1/4 cabbage, shredded
• 2 carrots, in matchsticks
• 150 g green beans, cut short
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• calamansi or lemon wedges, to serve

Method

1. Soak, do not boil

   Soak the bihon in warm water for 10 minutes until pliable but still firm, then drain well. They finish cooking in the stock, and boiled first they turn to mush.

   10 min

2. Aromatics first

   Fry the garlic and onion in the oil until fragrant and just golden.

   4 min

3. Meat next

   Add the chicken and chinese sausage and cook until the chicken is coloured and the sausage has released its sweet red fat.

   7 min

4. Vegetables, still crisp

   Add the carrots, beans and cabbage and stir-fry two minutes. They should stay bright — they carry on softening later.

   2 min

5. Noodles absorb the stock

   Pour in the stock, soy and oyster sauce, bring to a boil, then add the drained noodles and toss constantly with tongs until they have drunk up nearly all the liquid. This absorption is the whole method — the noodles are seasoned from the inside, not coated.

   8 min

6. Serve with citrus

   Serve with calamansi or lemon to squeeze over. Pancit is rich and slightly sweet, and it genuinely needs the acid.