Fongolicious: asian

Filipino Bihon Noodles

October 26, 2020

During my university years, parties were never really a party without our friend's mum making Filipino Bihon noodles and lumpia spring rolls (recipe). To me it was just staple comfort food that simply gives you a hug and makes you feel loved. For so long I've asked for the recipe or to be shown how to cook this but it never really happened. Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon Pickled Plum's blog and found this recipe. Also known as Bihon Pancit or in my household - bahoon noodles (don't ask why - weird names just happen).

It's pretty easy and can easily be made vegan/vegetarian. Below is my adapted version.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
~250g boneless, skinless chicken breast/thigh (sliced into bite size pieces) - for vegans/vegetarians use firm tofu or omit entirely
1 small onion (finely chopped)
~400g pack bihon noodles, or thin vermicelli or rice noodles
Chopped up vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and green beans, scallions (chopped bite size slivers - see picture)
salt and pepper to taste

Pancit Sauce:

2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (I use the vegetarian version)
1 teaspoon sugar
Light shake of garlic powder

Method

In a wok or a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and heat. Add onion and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the cooked chicken and season with a little salt and pepper.
Stir in the veges (in order of time required for it to cook) and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until a little tender.
In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the pancit sauce - mix then add to pan and bring to a boil.
Add noodles and stir until all the noodles are coated with the sauce. Keep on stirring and cooking until the noodles are tender (3-4 minutes). Initially it might seem a bit futile but persist, use the sauce to soften the noodles and continue to stir.
Add more stock (or water) if the dish is dry before the noodles are tender.
Season with salt and pepper and more soy sauce if necessary. Serve immediately with fresh coriander, sesame seeds, fried onions (all the favourite toppings).

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asian

Thai chilli basil noodles - Pad Kee Mao

October 26, 2020

Accidentally vegan, I made this stir-fry with rice noodles to just use up the leftover veges and expiring tofu in the fridge.

You can use other veges, obviously. Simply add it in order based on the time required to cook it.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
~150g firm tofu, diced in like inch logs
Broccoli, separated the stalks from the florets
Carrots (I diagonally sliced the cross-section of a carrot then maybe like half or third the cross section to make little flat match-sticks)
Celery (around 2-3 sticks, diagonally sliced so they're similar shape and size to the carrots)
Choy sum, I used half a bundle (Separate stalks from leaves. Stalks I chopped in half so they're a bit smaller. Maybe halved the bigger leaves.)
Mushrooms, sliced - i used around 4 med size ones.
Fresh coriander - not essential but I have heaps at the moment. Separated the root, stalks and leaves. Root I finally chopped. Stalks I roughly chopped. Leaves I kinda hand tore before serving.
2-3 tablespoons of the chili basil sauce/paste (see below)
1 heaped tspn corn flour
1 flat tspn raw sugar
3 globs of veg. oyster sauce
like 3 dashes of normal light soy-sauce
drizzle sesame oil at the end
1/2 kg rice noodle (I really can only get the ones you have to slice yourself that comes in like a 1kg folded up sheet)

NOTE: I would have also a zucchini too but I forgot - but these would be similar shaped to the carrots. You could also use capsicum, cauliflower, eggplant, etc.

Method

Marinate the sliced tofu in chili basil sauce and a dash of soy. Stir and set aside.
Prep all your veges, coriander and onion.
Slice up your noodles (if you have to).
Make a slurry in a cup with corn flour, sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce and some water. Stir to dissolve the corn flour.
Heat wok, add oil (I use either sunflower or peanut - olive is too thick and flavourful for this kind of dish) to coat the base. You know when oil is ready when it bubbles around a wooden cooking utensil. Add onions and saute. Add coriander root. Stir. Add carrots and broccoli stalk(s). Stir. Add choy sum stalks, celery. Stir. Add broccoli florets and mushrooms. Stir. Add choy sum leaves and coriander stalks. Stir. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and a generous dash of water and cover. This allows the veges to steam slightly. Probably like half a minute or so. You can obviously adjust the heat to where you feel comfortable. I usually have it between medium and hot. At the point the choy sum leaves might just be starting to wilt. Remove all the veges from the wok. It will continue to slowly cook while you cook the tofu.
Add a bit more oil to the pan then add the marinated tofu. Brown this off as best you can. Hard to see when there is sauce all over it. I guess I notice the tofu getting a bit softer. I then added the noodles. Out the packet seemed a bit dry and stuck together, so I added a bit of water and tried to steam it. Once it started softening up i could stir the tofu sauce and coat the noodles, at this point add the slurry you made. Stir that slightly then add the veges back in the wok. Stir it up. At this point you're also re-warming the veges too. Turn the heat off. Drizzle with sesame oil, sprinkle with black pepper, sesame seeds and coriander leaves. Serve. If it's not spicy hot enough, I would probably add pickled jalapeno slices but up to you. I also like adding fried onions from the Asian store too just for added texture.