MANILA -- With the All Saints and Souls' holiday now in full swing, some families in Malabon are now busy cooking "Pansit Malabon", the signature noodle dish of the locality.
This will be table fare for families holding mini-reunions in the cemeteries during the "Undas" holidays.
Cooking "Pansit Malabon" is quite a task and has many variations depending on the taste, inclinations and budget of person cooking it.
Eva Alejo, 55, a Malabon resident, said every family has its own recipe of the dish which was passed on from generation to generation.
"Yung recipe namin dyan ay galing pa sa mga matatanda namin. Kada pamilya, may iba-ibang sahog at paraan ng pagluluto sa Pansit Malabon kaya siya nagiging special (We have learned the recipe from our elders. Every family has a unique ingredient that they use as well as the way of cooking Pansit Malabon which makes it special.)," Alejo said.
Alejo added that through this, they are able to relive the memories of their departed elders.
Basically, the dish is cooked by sauteing crushed garlic and onions together.
After a few minutes, put in the ground pork and let it stew in its in own juice.
Let the meat simmer until the garlic, onions and ground pork get an oily consistency. Mix in salt or any other spice depending to your taste.
Some Malabon residents prefer to use patis (fish sauce) as seasoning.
After this, put in the atsuete mix which will give the unique reddish color of the dish.
When the sauce is done, soak the luglug (rice noddles) in hot water until it grows soft and big.
While waiting for the "luglug" to grow, start dicing your toppings (hard boiled eggs, squid, cabbages, fried liempo and shrimp) and crushed chicharon (pork cracklings) into a mealy consistency.
Those who are fond of vegetables can also add pechay Baguio, spring onions, celery and toasted garlic.
When all of this is done, drain the luglug and mix it with the sauteed garlic, onions and ground pork until it gets its reddish mixture and place the toppings.
Pansit Malabon is usually mistaken for another Filipino noodle dish palabok. However, the difference between the two is in the type of noodles used as the former has thick noodles while the latter has thin ones. (PNA)
