Birthday Palabok

For my birthday, I decided to make Palabok. It was the second time I made it, the first first one was a few months ago and it was a labor of love. I couldn't find the right ingredients, and as such, I had to do with substitutes. I had to use rice stick noodles because I couldn't find thick noodles, fish flakes instead of real smoked herring, and lime due to the unavailability of calamansi here.

It was a success, though. Hubby loved it, and I had my fill of (Jollibee) palabok craving, at least for the time being.



What you need:

1 pack of rice stick noodles
2 tbsp. EVOO
1 lb. ground pork (browned)
1/2 lb. shrimp, deveined
1 pack Palabok mix
1 pack pork rinds (chicharon), crushed
hard boiled eggs
half a pack of fish flakes (remove the small fish bones)
fish sauce
toasted garlic, crushed
green onions, chopped

What to do:

Boil the noodles and set aside. In a separate pan, roast the pork rinds for a few minutes and set aside, then the fish flakes. Set aside as well. Put the browned ground pork and shrimps in a wok, cook for 1 minute (or until the shrimp changes color), then add the palabok mix (prepared as per packaging instruction). Stir constantly, until it thickens and becomes smooth.

Top your noodles with the sauce, garnish with fish flakes, toasted garlic, hard boiled eggs, pork rinds, and green onions. Yummy!

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Cut the shrimps lengthwise (down the spine) to get more.
2. You can add some of the cooked fish flakes and pork rinds to the palabok mix for more flavor.
3. You can also use squid and mussels for a seafood palabok.