Easy Pancit Miki (Stir-Fried Egg Noodles in Soy Sauce)

As I have discussed in my “Sotanghon-Miki Guisado” post, “miki” refers to the type of fresh egg noodles made in the Philippines and widely used in both soupy and stir-fried (“guisado”) noodle dishes of many Filipinos. It can be found in most wet markets and supermarkets in the Philippines and in Asian groceries abroad. It is available in different sizes and shapes, each of which has specific uses. It is basically made from all-purpose flour, eggs, salt, water and some oil, just like any other fresh egg noodles of other Asian countries. Chinese egg noodles however use wheat instead of the all-purpose flour.

The ingredients are mixed well so that it forms stiff dough. The dough is rolled out and cut into strips of varying widths, depending on the type of egg noodle being made. As a general rule, egg noodles are quite long, since length symbolizes longevity and good luck. Fresh egg noodles are often coiled to save space. They are refrigerated and must normally be used within several days otherwise they will go bad. Fresh egg noodles are fast cooking, requiring around 5 minutes only of cooking as a general rule. The noodles are often cooked until they are still slightly chewy.

Pancit, in the Philippine context, commonly refers to stir-fried noodle dish either “pancit bihon” (thin rice noodles), “sotanghon” (glass or mung bean noodles) and “miki” (fresh egg noodles) or any combination thereof like my previous “sotaghon-miki” post. For today’s feature, I prepared a stir-fried “pancit miki”; whilst it is less popular as compared to “pancit bihon” or “sotanghon”, it also maintains a wide range of followers among Filipinos.

To prepare it, we shall need about 500 grams medium round “miki” or fresh egg noodles, washed 2 times to remove excess oil and salt and drained thoroughly.

The other major ingredients are 3 pcs chicken thigh (use of chicken breast is more common but I like thigh better), seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in about 2 cups water until just tender then cut up to small sizes and 1 cup cooked shrimps, peeled. You can also use pork or chicken meat balls (“bola-bola”) as well as fish or squid balls if you like. Some also prefers pork or chicken liver as addition.

Then, prepare the sautéing and vegetables ingredients: about 3 tbsp vegetable oil, 4 gloves garlic, peeled and minced, 1 pc onion, chopped, 1 pc carrot, julienned, 1 cup chopped oyster mushroom and 1 tbsp minced celery or coriander. You are free to use cabbages, beans and other vegetables, just don’t put too much of it. For me, I just limit mine to carrots and mushroom.

The sauce ingredients are 2 cups chicken broth from boiling the chicken meat, 4 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp white sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp corn flour or cornstarch, ½ tsp salt or to taste and 1 tsp freshly ground pepper. Just a reminder: check the salt level of your broth and soy sauce as you might not need to put salt at all. In addition, some “miki” are already salty direct from the package so adjustment might need to be made.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir to blend.

In a thick pan or wok, heat the vegetable oil and sauté garlic and onion. Add the chopped chicken pieces, julienned carrots then the peeled shrimps and continue sautéing. Add the “miki” noodles, carefully mix with the other ingredients and stir-fried for one more minute or two.

Add the sauce and let the noodles to fully cook while stirring occasionally. The noodles will suck up all the liquid as it cooks. Add the mushroom. Stir to avoid getting burnt at the bottom of the pan as the liquid disappears. Add the celery or coriander and stir once more. Turn off the heat when the liquid is almost gone but noodles are still moist. Transfer to a large platter and immediately serve with bread, spring roll, rice or on its own with juice or soda. :-)

It’s tasty and mouth watering. The combination of the oyster sauce and soy sauce made the dish rich and delicious. This is definitely one of my favorite……….another signature dish of this blog. Try and Enjoy! c “,)