Crispy Palabok

If you are a fan of Filipino food, there’s a pretty high chance that you have tried the ever salty and iconic dish that is palabok. But can you imagine having the sotanghon in another way– satisfyingly crunchy? That’s exactly what we get to have with this Crispy Palabok recipe! 

What is Crispy Palabok?

Like your regular palabok, you can expect a savory, flavorful sotanghon dish enriched with the flavors of shrimp, garlic, fish flakes and pork. This really is quite the celebration of a dish! But what makes this particular recipe unique is that we cook up the rice vermicelli until it becomes irresistibly puffed and crunchy! Topping that off with a distinct, salty sauce makes for the perfect, filling lunch or dinner dish.

What are the Ingredients?

For our sauce, we need 2 teaspoons of annatto powder, ½ teaspoon of onion powder, and 1 Knorr Shrimp Cube to create that one of a kind palabok taste. We also cannot forget about our ½ lb. of ground pork, 2 tablespoons of smoked fish or tinapa flakes, and 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Now get 3 tablespoons of cooking oil, 2 ½ cups of water, and some fish sauce and ground black pepper. 

Let’s work on our topping components as well by preparing ½ cup of crushed pork rinds, 3 hard boiled eggs you’ve wedged, and 12 cooked shrimp. Our last three ingredients would be ¼ cup of chopped green onion, 3 tablespoons of toasted garlic, and 1 lemon you’ve wedged.

And you definitely cannot make your palabok without 250 grams of rice vermicelli or sotanghon, as well as 2 ½ cups of cooking oil.

How to Cook Crispy Palabok

We can start things off by pouring your 2 ½ cups of cooking oil into a wok or a cooking pot. Just apply heat, and let the oil reach 350 F. When it does, you can add your vermicelli, and fry this. You can keep doing so just until it becomes puffed and crispy enough. After that, you can take the sotanghon out of the pot, and let the oil drip.

Place your vermicelli on a serving plate. Now arrange half of all your topping ingredients around the plate.

Heat up your 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok. Then you can toss in the white part of your green onion, and saute this until it gets soft. Afterwards, you can put the ground pork inside as well, and saute this until it becomes brown.Now we need to toss in our annatto powder and flour, which we will cook while stirring. Keep this up for 1 minute. 

After that, you must pour your water into the wok, and bring this to a simmer. Let’s heighten the flavor of the sauce by placing our Knorr Shrimp Cube, smoke fish flakes and onion powder inside. Keep this simmering for 3 to 5 minutes as you are stirring. Should the sauce be getting too thick, you may add water to thin it down. And for more seasonings, we will add fish sauce and ground black pepper.

Now just pour the delightful orange sauce you made, while it is hot, all over the crispy noodles. Top this all off with the ingredients you have left.

How to Serve Crispy Palabok

Great job on creating this yummy Crispy Palabok! Since everything is already in our plate, all that is left to do is chow down on your hearty meal. But if you would like to pair something with your palabok, I would highly recommend some puto for a sweet treat. And if you are in the mood for another crunchy delight, definitely go for some fried chicken too. Another great dish for this would be barbecue.

How to Store Crispy Palabok

Get your airtight container to store this properly. Now when your palabok is down to room temperature, you can transfer this to the container. Refrigerate the palabok, and you can keep this in the fridge for about three to five days.

As for reheating the palabok, you can just take out the container from the refrigerator. For this, you have the option of steaming the palabok. But you may also use the same method for cooking this by putting the sotanghon back in the wok or cooking pot. Just apply heat until you get your dish to the temperature you prefer.

I hope you enjoyed making this Crispy Palabok as much as I did. Give me your feedback and any queries in the comments section below! And if you are in the mood to recreate more unique, tasty Filipino dishes, this website is perfect for you. Just scroll through Panlasang Pinoy for more great recipes made easier to cook up at home!

Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag us on Instagram at @panlasangpinoy or hashtag #panlasangpinoy so we can see your creations!

Crispy Palabok

The crispy version of a savory, flavorful Filipino noodle dish enriched with the flavors of shrimp, garlic, fish flakes and pork.

Prep: 10 minutes minutes

Cook: 30 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

• ▢ 250 grams rice vermicelli sotanghon
• ▢ 2 ½ cups cooking oil

Sauce Ingredients:

• ▢ 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• ▢ 1/2 lb. ground pork see note 1
• ▢ 2 teaspoons annatto powder see note 2
• ▢ 1 piece Knorr Shrimp Cube
• ▢ 2 tablespoons smoked fish flakes see note 3
• ▢ 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ 2 ½ cups water
• ▢ Fish sauce and ground black pepper to taste

Topping Ingredients:

• ▢ ½ cup pork rinds crushed
• ▢ 3 pieces hard boiled eggs wedged
• ▢ 12 pieces shrimp see note 4
• ▢ ¼ cup green onions chopped
• ▢ 3 tablespoons toasted garlic
• ▢ 1 piece lemon wedged, see note 5

Instructions

• Heat 2 ½ cups of cooking oil in a wok or cooking pot. Once the oil reaches 350F, fry the vermicelli until it gets puffed and crispy. Remove from the pan and let the oil drip off. Arrange on a serving plate. Also arrange half of the topping ingredients around the plate.
• Make the sauce by heating the oil in a wok. Saute the white part of the green onion until it softens. Add the ground pork. Saute until it browns.
• Add the annatto powder and flour. Continue cooking while stirring for 1 minute.
• Pour the water into the wok. Bring it to a simmer.
• Add Knorr Shrimp Cube, smoked fish flakes, and anion powder. Continue to simmer while stirring for 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure to add more water if the sauce needs to be thinned down. Season with fish sauce and ground black pepper.
• Pour the sauce over the crispy noodles (Note: it is recommended to do this while the sauce is hot). Top with the remaining ingredients.
• Serve. Share and enjoy!

Notes

Note 1: (ground pork) This can be an optional ingredient. If you like protein to your palabok other than pork, ground chicken works fine too.

Note 2 (annatto powder) This ingredient provides color to the sauce. You can use either annatto water or annatto oil as substitutes. Here are the proper ways when using either of the two:

• Annatto water: Add this in step 3 along with the water. Make sure that the total liquid volume (including the water) does not exceed 2 1/2 cups.
• Annatto oil: This will replace the cooking oil in step 2.

Note 3 (smoked fish flakes) This is also known as tinapa flakes. When using a whole smoked fish such as bangus (milkfish) or galunggong (scad), removes the scales and carefully separate the fish meat from the bones. Flake the fish afterwards.

Note 4 (shrimp) When using fresh shrimp, Wash it thoroughly and remove the head and shell. It is also ideal to devein the shrimp. The shrimp head is a good source of flavor. You can boil it in 1 cup of water and then filter using a sieve. Use the shrimp broth as part of your liquid ingredient in step 4.

When using frozen shrimp, thaw it first. Remove the shell as needed.  

Note 5 (lemon) Lime and calamondin (calamansi) can be used. 

Video

Nutrition Information

Calories: 1784kcal (89%) Carbohydrates: 63g (21%) Protein: 17g (34%) Fat: 164g (252%) Saturated Fat: 16g (80%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 44g Monounsaturated Fat: 101g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 51mg (17%) Sodium: 464mg (19%) Potassium: 297mg (8%) Fiber: 2g (8%) Sugar: 1g (1%) Vitamin A: 78IU (2%) Vitamin C: 18mg (22%) Calcium: 52mg (5%) Iron: 2mg (11%)

© copyright: Vanjo Merano