Palabok is a tasty filipino dish. It is served in many restaurants and can both be enjoyed as mirienda (snack) or a main meal. Often times, it is served with slices of buttered bread.

It looks quite fancy and colorful. In earlier times, the sauce is prepared by boiling shells and heads of shrimps before seasonings and thickener (for example cornstarch) are added. Sounds like a lot of work?

Fortunately, anyone can now buy instant palabok mix in groceries and this makes cooking the dish way much easier. Therefore, you can enjoy palabok anytime in the comfort of your home.

Note: Though you need not make the sauce from scratch, you will still need shrimps, but this time, you will just peel and cook them as the main ingredient. Sometimes I choose to cook this dish without shrimps. (HAHA!)

Here are the ingredients you will need:
1 pack of instant palabok mix
2 cups of water
200 g or rice noodles (sotanghon)
100 g of cooked shrimp
Flakes of smoked fish (optional)
Crushed pork chicharon (I prefer mine with plenty of this)
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
Spring onion, chopped
Fried or roasted garlic 
Calamansi (optional)

Procedure:

• Cook rice noodles according to package instructions
• Dissolve palabok mix in 2 cups of water, stir sauce over medium heat until thick.
• Pour sauce over cooked noodles
• Add shrimp, chicharon, smoked fish
• Garnish with egg, garlic and spring onions
• Serve with a slice of calamansi and buttered bread if available

Enjoy the meal with family or friends. This makes 4 servings.

Did you try it? Tell me what you think