I like palabok, a noodle dish very popular in the Philippines. The simplicity of the dish is enhanced by the smoky flavor from smoked milkfish (tinapa), shrimps, the roasted minced garlic and the crushed pork cracklings. The sauce is key to palabok. It should be made from broth with shrimp heads and fish sauce.
Since I live in an area in San Francisco where Asian markets are not close by, I have decided to make one for dinner, but with a twist. I want to make it low carb, without the pork cracklings and the tinapa. I have decided to use mung bean thread noodles (sotanghon) since they have very low glycemic index, smoked salmon and smoked oysters in cottonseed oil, instead of tinapa, anchovies, instead of fish sauce and bonito flakes in place of pork cracklings. It turned out to be more flavorful than the traditional version and aromatic.
Here it is, my version of palabok.
Ingredients:
1 pkg. saifun noodles (sotanghon)
1 bulb of garlic, crushed & roasted
Olive oil
1 3.75-Ounce can smoked oysters in cottonseed oil
1 c. of smoked salmon, chopped
4 pcs. anchovies or 1 T. anchovy paste
1 c. clam juice
Anatto seed powder (achuete)
1T cornstarch
12 pcs. headless shrimps, in shells
Scallions
2 hard boiled eggs
1 handful bonito flakes
2 kiwi limes (calamansi), seeds removed
Directions:
- Soak bean thread noodles in hot water.
- In the pan, put in 1T of olive oil. Heat it through and then, roast the crushed garlic until golden brown. Remove from pan.
- Add scallions and anchovies. Stir for a few seconds.
- Add smoked oysters with the cottonseed oil and the clam juice. Cook in medium heat for about 1 minute.
- Put in 2 t of annatto seed powder. Stir and continue cooking.
- Put in the shrimps and cook for 2 minutes.
- Dissolve 1 T cornstarch with 1T of water. Stir in the sauce.
- Continue cooking until the sauce thickens just a little bit.
- Drain the noodles and transfer to a pot.
- Pour in the sauce. Squeeze in the lime juice. Toss everything until the sauce evenly coats the noodles.
- Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with crushed bonito flakes, then, roasted garlic and sliced boiled eggs. Top with more scallions if you like.
Enjoy!
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This entry was posted
on February 13, 2009
at Friday, February 13, 2009
and is filed under
Filipino,
Noodle,
Pasta,
Seafood
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