Seaweed noodle and bagnet soup

With some help from a very accommodating and chatty tindera (vendor), I made this noodle dish with seaweed noodles and bagnet bought from Vigan.

Ingredients

1 tsp. of annatto seeds
2 tbsps. of vegetable cooking oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
5 to 6 c. of meat broth, preferably homemade
125 g. of seaweed noodles
1 c. (or more) of chopped bagnet
a bunch of pechay, thinly sliced
toasted garlic bits for garnish

Instructions

Heat the cooking oil with the annatto seeds. Cook gently until the annatto seeds have rendered color. Scoop out with a slotted spoon. Discard.
In the tinted oil, sauté the minced garlic and shallots until fragrant.
Pour in the broth and bring to the boil.
Add the seaweed noodles. Boil gently for about five minutes or just until the noodles soften.
Add the sliced pechay. Stir. Turn off the heat and cover for a couple of minutes to wilt the leaves.
Ladle the noodle soup into individual bowls, add some chopped bagnet, sprinkle with toasted garlic bits and serve.

Quick notes

Depending on whether the meat broth has already been seasoned, you may have to adjust the seasonings by adding salt or patis (fish sauce) before serving the noodle soup.

Alternatively, provide patis in individual condiment saucers for each person.