New year, new New Year's Resolution? That's just not the case in my life. I couldn't remember the last time I made New Year's Resolution and I couldn't recall being a firm believer of creating one or two that will magical change my life, my body, my habits in the next 12 months for the better. I don't think they work for me. Why are we even talking about New Year's Resolution when the cover photo of this article clearly suggests that this is about another food blog from yours truly?
Well, I cooked this new dish last January 1, 2023. 😁 I always make it a habit that instead of making resolutions, Day 1 should be implementing at least one of the many goals I set myself and if you can recall I set a "one new recipe per month" goal since 2021 and I've decided to continue this goal this 2023.
Today, we'll be cooking something many don't normally prepare at home here in the Philippines. It's unusual to see this dish even during special occasions such as fiestas, birthdays to name a few. Or maybe it's famous in other parts of the Philippines but here in Cebu, the fastest way to get this is to buy this from Jollibee or find a restaurant that sells it in Food Panda or Grab.
Ingredients List
The name of the dish we're cooking today is Palabok. I've never been a fan of this dish until recently when I made it myself at home. The top reason is that it's expensive, haven't you noticed? Last time I checked, you'll shell out at least $4 for Palabok paired with plain fried chicken in Jollibee. I could get another meal for $2 and be as full as when I get the Palabok meal. But then I was curious why it's more expensive than spaghetti (well, at least in Jollibee) so I made it at home and found out a few things: (1) it's not that expensive to make and (2) it's easier than you think.
By the way, there are various ways of cooking Palabok but this recipe was inspired by Chef RV's recipe. Technically, Palabok is just bihon or sotanghon or any type of noodle for that matter with a special sauce called Palabok sauce garnished with whatever you want to such as egg, scallions, etc. You can even buy Palabok sauce in pouches at supermarkets, cook the bihon and add the toppings of your choice but we're making life difficult for you today by cooking everything from scracth! HAHA!
The main ingredient in making the Palabok Sauce are fresh shrimps. For this recipe, I used 1 kg of medium-sized deveined and cleaned shrimps. You may opt to take the shell out but it doesn't matter really. In my case, I left the tails but took out the shells.
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You'll be needing the onion and garlic in more than one of the steps we'll do later. It depends how many you'd want to put. You can always adjust according to your prefer taste.
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One of the many things that shouldn't be missing in any Palabok is tinapa flakes but I couldn't find any in my hometown so I bought dried fish, took out the bones and chopped/minced the dried fish until it resembles flakes just like below. Boil some eggs in advance until they're hard enough, cut them in wedges and set aside as toppings later.
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Another important ingredient that brings life to any food is food coloring. In this recipe, we aren't using artificial coloring, instead we use achuete sometimes referred to as annatto bring the red orange color of our Palabok
Get, set, go!
Now it's time to cook and amuse you family with your cooking superpower! Are you excited? Let's go! 💪
[1] First, we have to cook the shrimp that will be used as toppings. To do this, take a spoonful of butter. Allow it to completely melt over low heat. If you're cooking more shrimp as toppings, you can add more butter, too. When I use butter, it's wise to put a little oil so the butter won't burn easily.
Add the minced garlic, minced onions and the shrimp and sauté until the shrimp turns into light orange. Do not overcook else the shrimp's texture will be rubbery; that's not the ideal texture. So know when you have to stop. 😭
The shrimp should be this vibrant! 😋 I haven't eaten dinner so writing this feels like a punishment! Set aside the cooked shrimp.
[2] In a separate pan, add at least 5 tablespoons of oil (any), add the achuete/annatto and let it simmer over low heat. Doing this will ensure the vibrant color of the annatto will be transferred into the oil.
Remove the achuete seeds by draining the oil, keep the oil that's now colored orange and set aside.
Your oil should look like the photo below:
[3] In another large pot, using the oil you made earlier from Step 2, sauté some garlic and onion and the shrimp heads.
Add about 1.5 liters of water in the bowl and allow it to boil over low heat. This shrimp broth will be the base of the Palabok Sauce.
Take out the shrimp heads. You may want to use them as toppings if not, they can now be discarded. Set aside the broth in another container.
[4] In the same big pot, sauté the remaining minced garlic and onion add the minced dried fish and mix well.
Add the shrimp broth to the pot and allow to simmer while continually mixing.
[5] Make a slurry by combining 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 cup of cornstarch and dissolving both in 1-2 cups of water. Make sure you completely dissolve the flour and cornstarch else you'll end up with lumps in your sauce.
Then slowly add to the slurry into the simmering pot containing the shrimp broth. To get the best consistency of the sauce, don't stop stirring the mixture until it starts to thickens.
Allow it to boil over low to medium heat while continuously stirring the mixture. You should be able to note changes in the consistency of the sauce. Add some fish sauce or salt to taste; you may add any other spice you want. In my case, I added a lot of chili flakes. At this point, the sauce is ready but you can continue putting it over fire until you achieve the consistency you want. You can have it super thick or super thin or just right, it all depends in your preferenc; otherwise, set the sauce aside.
[6] Cook bihon or vermicelli noodles based on the cooking instructions at the back of its packaging. So you won't have problems garnishing, transfer the cooked noodles in a rounded plate or pan.
Pour the Palabok sauce over the bihon and let the Chef in you work the magic of making a simple dish beautiful to the eyes!
Typically, Palabok is garnished with shrimp (the one we pre-cooked earlier), crushed chicharon, boiled egg wedges, toasted garlic, and of course, kalamansi. Lastly, serve hot! 😋
I hope this made you drool and made you realize that you can create this simple recipe at home. Let me know how it'll go if ever you make this at home for your loved ones! More photos below, see you in my next blog about food, good food! ❤❤❤
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