Pancit Sotanghon-Miki Guisado

During the recent birthday of one of our friends Ariel, I was asked to cook “pancit guisado” (Filipino stir-fry noodle) amongst other dishes. We were supposed to use a combination of “bihon” (thin rice noodles) which I posted earlier and “miki” (egg noodles) which is a personal favourite. However, what they purchased from the grocery was “sotanghon” (mung beans noodles) instead of the “bihon” so we ended up cooking “pancit sotanghon-miki guisado” instead. To tell you the truth, we did not regret it. The dish came out pretty much better than expected. With the not so good quality of “bihon” available in our local grocery stores here, it could not have been any better.

In the same passion of cooking the “Filipino Pancit Bihon” before, I will show you how we prepared the delicious “sotanghon-miki guisado”. “Sotanghon” is the Filipino term for the bean thread noodles (sometimes referred to as cellophane noodles) which is made from mung beans. It is a thin, transparent, smooth and slick type of noodles popular in the Philippines and Asia and available in most Asian stores abroad. “Miki” refers to fresh egg noodles you can find in most markets and supermarkets in the Philippines. It is being sold in a variety of sizes; thin, medium and thick and shapes; round and flat/elongated, each of which have thier own particular uses.

For the dish, we shall need one ½ kilo pack “sotanghon” noodles and one ½ kilo pack “miki” noodles. We are fortunate that there is fresh egg noodle here in Sri Lanka very similar to that of Philippine's “miki”.

For the meat ingredients, we need about 300 grams pork, about 250 grams chicken liver and about 300 grams shrimps.

You have to soak the noodles in water for about 5 minutes, for the “sotanghon” to soften and for the “miki” to remove its salty and oily texture. Boil the pork and liver in slightly salted water with crushed garlic, bay leaf, quartered onion, peeled carrot, whole pepper corn and some celery until tender. Strain the tasty broth and set aside. Slice the meat to small pieces and set aside. Shell the shrimp and using about half a cup of hot water, extract the juice from the pounded shell and head and set aside as well.

The other ingredients are 3 tbsp vegetable oil, 2 tbsp garlic, crushed and minced, 1 onion, peeled and sliced, ½ cup leeks, sliced diagonally, 1 pc carrot, julienned, ½ sml head cabbage, sliced into strips, 1 sml chinese cabbage, sliced into strips, 1 cup green beans, sliced diagonally, ¼ to ½ cup soy sauce, about 6 cups of the good broth (use in boiling the meat), 1 tsp ground pepper, salt to taste and 6 pcs calamansi or 1 lemon, sliced.

Same as in the “pancit bihon” post, brown the strips of meat in hot oil in a large pan. Remove and set aside. On the same pan and with the remaining oil (add some if needed) quick fry the shelled shrimps until pink in colour then set aside. Do not over cook. On the same pan still, sauté garlic and onion then return the strips of meat stir fry and follow with the vegetables: leeks, carrots, beans and cabbages. When the vegetables are half cooked add the soy sauce and continue stir frying for a minute or two then add the shrimps. It will smell good. :-)

Pour your broth slowly then your extracted shrimp juice. Let it boil again, add the ground pepper and salt and adjust soy sauce and seasonings according to your taste. It should be a little salty to compensate for the noodles later on. As I said before, the level of broth should be just enough to fully cook the noodles but not make it soggy. Scoop out about 1 to 1 ½ cups of the meat and vegetables and set aside.

Add the drained noodles, the “sotanghon first, thoroughly mix, then the “miki”, mix once again then cover. When it boils again continue mixing. Do this carefully until your “pancit sotanghon-miki guisado” is cooked.

Transfer to a serving platter and top with the meat and vegetables set aside earlier. Serve with sliced calamansi or lemon wedges on the side. Yummy!!

Isn’t that gorgeous? I must admit this is much better than the previous “pancit bihon” I posted. A very succulent and tasty noodle dish creation. A real hit. c“,)