Pancit Canton {Vegetarian}

Just as Thai cuisine has pad thai... and Chinese cuisine has lo mein... Filipino cuisine has pancit. Pancit is a popular stir fried noodle dish that has many variations based on the type of noodle used and the base sauce involved. For the recent Filipino Fiesta party I hosted last weekend, I had to include a pancit dish on our menu. No Filipino party is complete without it! This Pancit Canton takes a melange of colorful vegetables that's stir fried with egg and flour noodles with soy sauce to make a quintessential Filipino dish...

A highlight to the Filipino Fiesta party was having my parents there. Being retired caterers that focused on Filipino and Chinese cuisine, this was an event they had years of experience doing on a much larger scale. Here, my mom shows folks some of her secrets to Filipino cooking... such as how to evenly distribute soy sauce in this dish. The trick? Use the back of a large wooden spoon. Pour the soy sauce over the spoon above the noodles in a clockwise motion over the wok. Why does it matter? Doing so helps to distribute the soy sauce more evenly so that the noodles get a nice touch of soy all around. It also helps to keep the color of the noodles even throughout and prevents some parts of the dish to absorb more soy and color than others. {Notice how no measuring cup are anywhere near Mom. If you ask her, just as my students did, she can't even communicate how much soy sauce to use. "You just know..." she says. Lol...}

Pancit Canton {Vegetarian}
recipe from Joelen's family

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced
1 cup carrots, peeled and julienned
1 bunch bok choy, thinly sliced

1 cup snow peas

16 oz pancit canton noodles

1/4 soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

4 eggs, hard boiled, cooled, peeled and sliced into wedges

In a large wok over medium high heat, add the oil and garlic. Sauté garlic until golden in oil, being careful not to brown or burn. Add onions and cook until softened.

Add the carrots to the wok, combining with the garlic and onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes to soften.

Next add bok choy and snow peas. Continue to toss in the wok until bok choy starts to wilt and snow peas soften, about 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile, run the dried pancit canton noodles until warm water just to wet them. Add the wet noodles to the wok.

Pour the soy sauce over the noodles, Carefully toss the cooked vegetables over the noodles to help soften and incorporate all the ingredients. Continue to stir fry the noodles and vegetables together until the noodles are fully softened and cooked through.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the bell peppers and toss. The residual heat of the noodles will soften the peppers while maintaining a slight crunchy texture.

Transfer stir fried noodles into a large serving platter and top with green onions and slices of hard boiled egg.