The ever-present Pancit

CEBU, Philippines - There is hardly a birthday celebration in the Philippines that would not have pancit among the dishes shared. Pancit is even so common in the Filipinos’ everyday meals. No wonder that the pancit is often mistaken by foreigners as Filipino noodles.

According to food writer Serna Estrella, in a post at the website www.pepper.ph, the word “pancit” comes from the Hokkien “pian e sit,” which literally translates to “something conveniently cooked,” or fast food. Estrella figures out that the dish was probably brought to the Philippines as a Chinese trader’s “baon” meant to tide him over in his homesickness as he peddled his wares to the natives all the way back in the Pre-Spanish times.

The traveling Chinese in the country in those days, Estrella continues, may have tried to make his own noodles using rice flour as an alternative to the original wheat once his stash ran out. Rice has always been widely available in the country.  And given how rice noodles are easy to cook and highly versatile for various toppings and sauces, the taste for pancit has since caught on among the local people. 

Soon, the pancit essentially became the nation’s first “takeout food,” Estrella notes. Chinese food hawkers, called panciteros, sold pancit to workers at the cigar factories who had little time for cooking their own meals. Cigar factories proliferated in the country during the Spanish time.

Estrella correctly observes that nowadays pancit is a fixture at many significant family milestones such as weddings, baptisms, graduations – and most especially during birthdays, with its inherently Chinese symbolism as edible harbingers of a long life, “provided you don’t cut the noodles before you eat them.” The dish has since been enjoyed by generations of Filipinos in various forms, with sotanghon, bihon, canton, or miki as the most commonly used and consumed noodle variants.

A big favorite among young people is pancit bihon guisado. It can go with rice in the regular meal, or with bread slices as snacks. Or, pancit bihon by itself can already be a full meal or snack.

The following simplified version of the recipe in the website www.pinoypanlasa.com shows how easy it is to prepare pancit bihon: 

Pancit Bihon

Ingredients:

½ kl pancit bihon

¼ kl pork, cut into small thin slices

¼ kl chicken, cooked, deboned, and cut into thin slices

1 cup carrot, in thin strips

½ small cabbage, chopped

1 cup celery leaves, chopped finely

1 medium sized onion, chopped

½ tbsp garlic, minced

1 cup oyster sauce

3 to 4 cups water

Instructions:

1. Soak pancit bihon in water for about 10 minutes, then drain.

2. In a large pot, sauté the garlic and onion.

3. Add the pork and chicken then let cook for 2 minutes.

4. Put in the carrots, pea pod, cabbage, and celery leaves and simmer for a few minutes.

5. Remove all the ingredients from the pot, retaining only the liquid.

6. In the pot with the liquid, add the oyster sauce and mix well.

7. Add the pancit bihon and mix well. Cook until liquid evaporates completely.

8. Put in previously cooked vegetables and meat, and simmer for a minute or two

9. Serve hot. (FREEMAN)