Josie's Pancit

This is my boyfriend's mother's recipe for pancit, a Chinese-influenced Filipino dish. Her name is Josie, and yes, they are both Filipino. :-)


Josie’s Pancit

Ingredients:
¼ lb fresh pork (pork loin or other)
2 stalks celery, chopped into diamond shapes
2 green onions, cut up into small pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ sweet onion, diced
1 whole carrot, peeled and julienned
1 pkg fresh snow peas in the pod, cut up
Mushrooms (optional), as many as you like, sliced
1 squirt of lemon
1 pkg long egg noodles (like spaghetti)*
Salt
Pepper (freshly ground is best)
Chinese sausage links**
Shrimp (optional)
3 sprigs cilantro, cut into small bits
¼ Tbsp + some more olive oil
Soy sauce, to taste

Notes: There is a LOT of cutting involved in this recipe. Make sure to have a sharp chef’s knife, and keep it sharp. I wasn’t used to doing all this slicing and chopping, so I actually ended up getting a blister. This is not a recipe for the weak-fingered!

Directions:
Make sure all veggies are chopped, minced, diced, peeled, julienned and otherwise washed and cut before starting on the meat. Set aside. You’ll be doing a lot of setting aside in this recipe!

Chop pork meat into small chunks, less than an inch square. These chunks don’t have to be perfectly cubed. Boil pork (including the meat AND pork fat) in water on medium-high heat ‘til cooked. This may take a while…I wish I’d written down the time. Add pepper to taste, while pork boils. When pork is finished boiling, drain juice/sauce into a bowl – set aside. Then add ¼ Tbsp olive oil to brown meat with a crispy finish. This is fast. Take pork pan off heat after meat is crispy brown – set aside.

While pork is boiling, slice 2 or 3 of the long Chinese sausage links into thin slices. They are waxy, which feels weird. They are also uncooked, so these do need to heat up entirely to be eaten safely. Sauté garlic and onions in olive oil in a small pan. When these are done – set aside. They should be turning translucent, almost clear, but not too brown. This is quick. Then, in yet another pan (preferably a skillet or wok), cook sausage until it is brown.

When sausage is done cooking, it’s time for the fun part! Add garlic & onions to the skillet with the sausage. Add also the cooked pork and pork juice, and deveined shrimp. Mix pork, sausage, shrimp and all veggies EXCEPT celery and green onions. There should be a good amount of liquid in the skillet at this time. Add noodles and let them cook until they are soft. This is an art. The heat of the liquid should be boiling, but not too hot, because the shrimp will be over-done. After noodles are soft, add celery and green onions. Squeeze lemon and add soy sauce to taste. Stir together. Serve. Feeds a bunch of people…probably 4 adults.

This meal may look like a mess when it’s done, but it’s reallllly tasty. You may be able to lower the fat content by using leaner meat (like chicken, and boil it in chicken stock) or more vegetables.

For garnish, you can boil eggs. Slice boiled eggs into circles or ovals to put on top.

You may also serve this with fried rice!

* It is possible to use rice noodles, instead.

** Chinese sausage links can be found at Asian markets. They look like long firecrackers on a rope. You may be able to forego these, if you don’t want to use them.

lap cheong = lap chong = lap chung = lop chong = Chinese dried sausages = Chinese sausage Notes: These pork sausages look and feel like pepperoni, but they're much sweeter. Substitutes: chorizo OR salami OR ham (diced) From The Cook’s Thesaurus