How to Cook Perfect Palabok (With the Secret Shrimp Oil)

The flavor of real palabok isn't in the shrimp. It's in the shrimp heads, the part you throw away. Squeeze them in hot oil and you get the orange shrimp oil that gives palabok its color, its smell and the taste the orange packet mix is trying to imitate. The second secret is the thickener: glutinous rice flour, toasted dry in a pan first, so your sauce clings to the noodles instead of turning watery on the table. I'm Lorna, Tita Lorna, born in Pampanga and cooking for my family in California for thirty-one years. This is birthday palabok, the way my mother made it. Recipe (feeds 10 to 12): The shrimp oil (do this first): • Heads and shells from 1 lb shell-on shrimp • ¼ cup oil. Fry 5 minutes, pressing the heads with a spoon, then strain. • No shell-on shrimp? Toast and grind a small bag of dried shrimp instead. Sauce: • The shrimp oil + a little more oil • 2 packets atsuete (annatto) powder, or 2 tbsp annatto seeds steeped in warm water • 1 whole head garlic, minced + 1 onion, chopped • 1 lb ground pork • 1 lb shrimp meat, chopped (cook 90 seconds only) • 1 block firm tofu, crumbled, seasoned, air fried at 400°F for 20 min • 8 cups chicken or shrimp broth • ½ cup glutinous rice flour (mochiko), TOASTED dry in a pan until sand-colored, then dissolved in 2 cups COLD water • Patis (fish sauce) and lots of black pepper. Season it stronger than tastes right, the noodles are plain. Noodles: 2 sheets bihon (thin rice noodles). Soak 10 minutes in warm water, boil only 2 to 3 minutes, drain very well. Ignore the package time. Toppings, in this order: shrimp, sliced hard-boiled egg, smoked fish (tinapa), crushed chicharon, fried garlic, green onions. Calamansi or lemon on the side, squeezed by each person. The sauce is ready when it coats the back of a spoon and a line drawn through it stays open for a second. Too thick? Hot water, a little at a time, never cold. Cooking for a party: make the sauce a day ahead (it's better on day two), cook the noodles the day of, and never assemble the platter early. Carry the noodles, sauce and toppings separately and build it when you arrive. Leftovers: store sauce and noodles separately, 4 days and 2 days. Reheat the sauce with a splash of water. Or chop the noodles and fry them with garlic until crispy. In your family, was palabok for birthdays, for fiestas, or just for Sunday? And be honest: are you still using the orange packet? No judgment, I used it too. Next video: pancit bihon, the long-life birthday noodles. #palabok #pancitpalabok #filipinofood #pinoyfood #filipinorecipes