Instant Pancit Canton
Topic: Noodles
Instant noodles are always part of our grocery list at home, it means that it can be found in our kitchen cabinets daily. We ate it anytime, like breakfast, snacks or even dinner but I always cooked it differently, not just a mere instant noodles, I always tried my best to add something on it. Sometimes they did not recognize it, they thought that it was not an instant noodles at all.

This is one of my variations.

Ingredients:
1 package 70 g any instant noodles
1/2 cup ground/minced beef
1 small onion,thinly sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
about 20 pcs. or more baby bok choy
1 stalk, green onions, cut into 1 inch length
soy sauce to taste
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. cooking oil
pepper to taste
1 tsp. sesame oil

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package instruction, drain, add its spices if desired, then set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or pan, saute onion for few seconds, then add ground beef, stir until color turns brown. Add soy sauce and carrots. Cook until carrots are tender.
3. Add noodles, baby bok choy, oyster sauce, green onions and pepper. Stir and mix well. Cook for few seconds.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the sesame seed oil. Serve.

See also:
Beef Fried Noodles
Vegetable Chow Mien
Pancit Canton

Bihon Guisado (version 2)
Topic: Noodles
Few days ago, my hubby always mentioned about Bihon (rice noodles), he was always asking when we will cook rice noodles,do we just let it stay in the shelf forever? So I presumed that he missed to eat that food and that's the reason why I cooked this dish the other day.

Ingredients:
200 g rice noodles, string variety (Bihon)
5 cups water or more
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil

1 chicken breast, cut into strips
2 chicken franks, sliced diagonally and thinly
1 medium carrot, julienned
1/5 head of cabbage, shredded
2/3 cup frozen corn kernels
15 pcs. bagui beans, sliced thinly
1 bell pepper,cut into strips
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup chicken broth
soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. sesame seed oil
2 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Put water, salt and 1 tbsp. oil in a pot, let it boil. Add the rice noodles and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat cooking oil in a wok, stir fry the chicken franks for 1 minute, take out from the wok and set aside.
3. In the same oil, saute garlic until lightly brown, then add onions and, saute until tender.
4. Add chicken, vegetables, corn and broth. Stir and cook until the chicken are done. Season with soy sauce,sugar and pepper.
5. When the chicken and vegetables are done, stir in the rice noodles, mix well.
6. Stir in the beaten eggs. Cook until the eggs are done.
7. Turn off heat. Stir in the sesame seed oil and serve.

See also:
Bihon Guisado (version 1)

Chicken Noodle Vegetable Soup
Topic: Noodles
The previous Chicken Noodle Soup that I posted here was made of flat rice noodles but in this recipe I used dried egg noodles and I also added more vegetables on it that's why I named it chicken noodle vegetable soup. This is also cooked in different way.

Ingredients:
300 g chicken, sliced into small portions
180 g dried egg noodles
1 large dried mushroom, soaked in water then sliced thinly
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
1 medium carrot, sliced
Lettuce romaine leaves
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced into tiny strips
Fish sauce to taste
1/2 tsp. sugar
8 cups (or more)chicken broth
5 pcs. lemon leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:
1. Heat butter in a pot and saute onion and ginger until just tender. Add chicken and mushrooms, stir.
2. Pour chicken broth then add carrots, lemon leaves, sugar, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Let it boil.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the noodles and vegetables are done.

See also:
Chicken Noodle Soup

Ants Climbing a Tree
Topic: Noodles
Very interesting name! I already cooked this dish before I knew its name. I just knew it recently while I was browsing a Thai cooking website.

Accordingly, this is a classic dish in Chinese Cuisine. It consists of a ground meat cooked in a sauce and poured over bean thread noodles (Sotanghon). It is so called because the bits of ground meat that cling to the noodles evoke an image of ants walking on twigs of a tree. Some ingredients to be used in this dish are soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil green onions, garlic and pepper.

There are many variations in cooking this dish, while me, I cooked it this way:

Sorry, the ants are not clearly visible in the picture, they are very tiny. LOL :)

Ingredients:
100 g bean thread noodles (sotanghon)
1/2 cup dried mushrooms, soaked in water then sliced
2/3 cup ground beef
2 tbsp. ginger, crushed then sliced thinly
1 stalk green onions, cut into 1 inch length diagonally
1/4 cup broth
1 red chili pepper, chopped
1 tsp. chili sauce
2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Marinade:
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:
1. Soak noodles in hot water until they are pliable (about 5 minutes). Drain well. Cut the noodles into shorter lengths.
2. Mix all the marinade ingredients then marinate ground beef for 15 minutes.
3. Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a wok. Add the marinated beef. Stir-fry until the beef has changed color and is nearly cooked through. Remove from the wok. Clean out the wok.
4. Add 1 tbsp. vegetable oil to the wok. Add the chili pepper and ginger. Stir-fry briefly until aromatic. Add the dried mushrooms. Stir-fry fro few seconds, then stir in the chili sauce and the noodles. Add the broth in the middle of the wok. Add the ground beef to the mixture. Stir until cooked through.
5. Stir in the green onions. Mix everything together and cook for 30 seconds. Serve.

Pancit Miki
Topic: Noodles
When talking about fresh miki, I always remember my father because this is his favorite dish to eat for Iftar during month of Ramadan. We used to stock many shrimps in the fridge every month of fasting because that was his favorite flavor for the fresh miki. I still remember one day in month of Ramadan when my mother was not around in the house, we were only two left with my father, I had class in my masteral degree in the afternoon so I did not able to cook for our Iftar, my off was 6:00 pm so by the time I reached home, it was already dark because it was very traffic during that time also. My father is not a big fan of restaurants food, he always prefer homemade meals so he has no choice but to cook for our Iftar. When I reached home, I saw pancit miki cooked in a very perfect way, I tasted it and it was really good, I asked him where did he buy and he said he cooked it, I was surprised since I didn't know that my father knew how to cook that way.

Here in Kuwait, I rarely cook pancit miki because the fresh miki here doesn't taste as good as the one in Philippines. I only knew one source of fresh miki here so I have no choice but to buy it when we were craving for it. I bought few grams of it 3 days ago and I had no time to cook until yesterday.

Ingredients :
200 g fresh miki
2 cups chicken breast, sliced into strips
1 carrot, julienned
? head of cabbage, shredded
1 cup bean sprouts
few dried mushrooms, soaked in water then sliced
1 ? cups shrimp broth (use water if you don’t have broth)
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 small red capsicum, sliced into strips
2 cloves garlic, crushed then minced
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
? tsp. black pepper powder
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sesame seed oil
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks green onions, sliced into 1 inch length diagonally
Hard boiled eggs, quartered (optional)

Directions:
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. For the sauce, combine cornstarch solution, oyster sauce, fish sauce, black pepper powder, shrimp broth, sugar and sesame seed oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok, brown the chicken meat, then add garlic and onion, stir for 1 minute.
4. Add all the vegetables except sprouts. Season with light sauce and stir fry for a minute.
5. Add the miki and toss several times, pour in the sauce mixture, stir until the sauce is thick.
6. Add the bean sprouts, stir for 30 seconds then off the heat.
7. Garnish with the green onions and slices of hard-boiled eggs.