Instant? Yes, as in cooked with one pack of instant noodles. And guess what? This instant chicken pancit canton is enough to feed two hungry people.
For non-Filipinos, pancit canton is the local name for chow mein. Whether cooked with pork, shrimp or chicken, in the Philippines, it is still pancit canton.
But why instant noodles? Why not the usual egg noodles used for cooking pancit canton? Well, three reasons.
First, it’s an admission that we still buy and eat instant noodles at home. A carry-over habit from my daughters’ college days.
Second, sometimes, even the smallest pack of egg noodles is too much for two people.
Third, my daughters have been egging me to do a series on creative ways to cook and serve instant noodles.
The girls do make a good argument. I mean, why be content with the bits and pieces of dried meat vegetables that come with a pack of instant noodles? Why be satisfied with the MSG-laden seasoning as well? Boiling the noodles takes five minutes. Cooking a simple stir fry takes about the same amount of time.
Can any kind of instant noodles be used? Sure! Whether the pack says it’s for a soup or a stir fry, you can use the noodles for this recipe. You only need the noodles, after all. You discard everything else that’s in the pack.
Ingredients
- 1 pack instant noodles
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 chicken thigh fillet cut into thin strips
- salt
- pepper
- 1 small onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup julienned carrot
- ¼ cup julienned bell pepper
- ¼ cup sitsaro (snow peas) trimmed (and halved, if large)
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- ½ teaspoon sugar
Video
Instructions
Cook the noodles
- Boil the instant noodles and drain well.
Make a stir fry
- Heat the cooking oil in a pan.
- Spread and chicken strips in the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir fry for one minute.
- Add the onion and garlic. Stir fry for half a minute.
- Add the carrot, bell pepper and sitsaro, one after the other, at 30-second intervals, stir frying all the way.
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce with one cup of water, and pour into the pan. Cook, stirring, until thick and clear.
Finish the dish and serve
- Add the cooked noodles to the stir fry and toss to coat every piece of noodle with sauce.
- Divide the instant chicken pancit canton between two bowls and serve at once with kalamansi halves or lime (or lemon) wedges on the side.
