Eating out and about the United Kingdom

I'm currently just over three months in the United Kingdom; doing a combination of house and pet sitting as well as sightseeing. Eating here has included my own grocery shopping and cooking while doing house sitting and eating out while traveling around. I thought I'd give a few of my impressions of eating while here, because British food has such a bad reputation.

I am definitely happier buying and cooking my own food, as British grocery stores have a great selection of foods. In addition to the selection, its nice to know that genetically modified foods are illegal here, and most of the foods do not have the amount of preservatives that American foods have, Breads will mold in three or four days (as they should), and eggs are not irradiated. The breads here are crusty, thick and hearty, even the white breads, and make wonderful toast. Eggs have beautiful, golden yolks rather than the insipid pale yellow yolks of American eggs. There is a plethora of breads to try, and it is a big part of every meal, tea, and snack. The same goes for desserts. "Pudding" or "pud" is an integral part of British life, and there are cream rolls, turnovers, funnily named dishes like "spotted dick". Whipped cream is the unsweetened variety and freshly whipped. It has a wonderful, buttery taste without the sugar that goes perfectly with the fruit jams in the rolls and turnovers. My early hosts were very frugal and "healthy" eaters who avoided sugar, but now while visiting friends here in Northern Ireland, I've had some wonderful apple lattice pastry with marzipan tucked in, a nice sponge with butter cream, and more to come, I'm sure. 

Cooking in homes comes with some challenges, foremost of those the ability to get the hob (stove) turned on. I've seen as many types of stoves as I have been in houses, and only one was like an American stove (meaning you turn the knob and the gas or electric comes on). Some have required pushing a button while turning the knob (basically to light a pilot light), turning on an electric switch on the wall to get power to the stove, and figuring out how to convert Celsius and "gas marks" to Fahrenheit. Once I got the hang of it, cooking was no problem.

As for as the normal meals, breakfast has many offerings, including scones, pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, and numerous types of sausages. Then there are the additional breads for meals: brown, white, granary, farls (skillet breads), and a full selection of Indian breads if wanted as well. Bacon is different. It is back bacon rather than pork belly bacon, so much more lean, and closer in American ham to taste, and with little fat. Some people have compared it to Canadian bacon, but it isn't the same at all. Most places out are going to offer baked beans, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, and a hash brown as well, which, along with the meats, eggs, and breads, makes for a substantial experience. On the subject of baked beans, they are very similar to American pork and beans, but perhaps without the dab of added sugar. Most British people who I've read online confuse our "baked beans" with theirs, and are appalled at how sweet they are. I guess no one has ever pointed out that pork and beans are what they want. I admit, I DO like beans on toast (a British favorite), but just don't see the need for them along with everything else on the "Full English" (also called a Full Scottish or Full Irish). I don't think people here eat a full breakfast like this every day, because it'd be like Thanksgiving dinner every single day. That being said, they have a huge selection of cereals and "porridge" (oatmeal) is still very popular though it is eaten much thinner than in the United States. 

Sandwiches are also hugely popular in the UK, and besides typical sliced deli meats, there are a variety of "sandwich fillings", which is basically the main ingredients premixed with mayonnaise. Tuna and sweetcorn, three cheese and onion (similar to pimento cheese, but richer and higher in fat, of course), chicken tikka, and coronation chicken are the top fillers. Coronation chicken is a curried chicken salad created for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and would be familiar to some pot luck occasions in the US. The "Ploughman" sandwich is ancient and popular: a thick slice of mature cheddar on crusty bread with sliced onion and perhaps some Branston pickle. I had eaten Branston pickle in Chicago, being able to find it in the International grocery stores there. It might be considered an acquired taste, being made of diced vegetables including rutabaga (called swede in the UK), carrots, vinegar, apples, sugar, spices, etc. and in short, is a crunchy condiment that tastes like a slightly more vinegary steak sauce. 

For dinner, "Sunday roast" is still the tradition, with roast beef, "roasties" (potatoes roasted in goose fat in the oven), a veg (usually green peas), and Yorkshire puds (a type of popover). Holiday meals usually include a fresh turkey and all of the trimmings, and a flaming Christmas pudding or Christmas cake, which is a fruit cake covered with marzipan and fondant. 

A peculiar aspect of "British cooking" is how much Indian cuisine has been incorporated into the average British diet. In the grocery stores, there are as many microwaveable, frozen, and ready to go Indian meals as there are more traditional British food. For that matter, curry is now British, part of the average household repertoire, and ordered for takeaway as much as pizza. 

As for differences that Americans might find difficult (depending on where they live), are what you might not find in the grocery stores or peculiarities of British restaurant dining. One thing to know, is that just about every meal choice in the average restaurant, will include chips (french fries), whether it is fish, hamburgers, lasagna, middle eastern, or even Chinese food. They will still serve chips. Also, outside of Indian or Chinese food, I found it difficult to get any other option as a vegetable other than green peas or a simple mixed salad (without any dressing). Salad dressings are on the grocery shelves, but to date, all of those I have tried are much sweeter than American versions, and not to my personal taste. I also am not fond of British "salad cream", which is basically a slightly thinned, sweeter mayonnaise. So if you are a "salad person", you might not be happy. As a budget traveler, I'm sure there are more choices in better restaurants, but that hasn't been the case at any restaurant that I had a meal, which is really strange, as the grocery stores are full of a beautiful variety of fresh veggies, such as green beans, carrots, spinach, etc. 

One week I had a craving for some "home style food" and thought of greens and cornbread. I could not find cornmeal of any sort there, not even the type to make polenta at either of the major grocery stores. Also there are no "greens", meaning turnip greens, collards, etc. There are packages of baby spinach leaves and a package of shredded "spring greens", which when you read the label, find out is only green cabbage. So, I'll be waiting until I return to the US to satisfy that craving. 

Then there are differences between the fast food in the US and UK. One big difference is KFC, which has none of the typical sides that Americans are used to having. No mashed potatoes and cole slaw or green beans. Potato wedges and corn cobbettes are the only option. They also have a "rice box" that is heavily advertised that I tried and cannot recommend: a box with a bed of Spanish style rice, a layer of lettuce, a fried chicken breast, and covered in barbecue sauce and a white sauce similar to ranch dressing. I ended up pulling out the piece of chicken and tossing the rest after a few bites. If you do decide to visit KFC, don't plan on it filling your crowd as much as the US sites, as the chicken are not hormone filled, so the pieces will seem tiny, or rather, the size of real, natural chickens. 

Pizza Hut and McDonalds are also all over the country, and McDonalds is pretty much the same world wide in terms of the hamburgers, though in the UK they also offer a veg burger, and a bacon roll with brown sauce for breakfast. Pizzas are also different. Crusts are softer, an anathema to someone who loves a thin, crispy crust like I do, and again, toppings like sweet corn (surprisingly good) and chicken tikka (strange chemical flavor not like real chicken tikka). The meats are thicker and not quite the same as US style pizza, but a decent substitute in a pinch if you had a pizza craving. That being said, I only ate at the US chains a few times when there were no real options. I would rather try foods that are part of the country than the imports. The food that I can recommend highly are the savory pies. I tried quite a few and my favorite by far, is the traditional Cornish pasty. A beautiful, substantial pie, with flaky crust, and filled with beef, rutabaga, and potatoes. I had one right out of the oven while visiting Chatsworth House, and it was heavenly. There is also a chain called "Cornwall Pie Company" that sells pasties at the motorway oases, in mobile stands near airports and at train stations, and they are quite good. In addition, there are 'slices', which are also savory pies with chicken and mushroom, cheese and onion, and other flavors. Obviously, a high fat pastry and meat pie might not be a healthful choice, but its a nice, filling meal a couple of times a week. 

The UK and Ireland, also being so close to the ocean, has some wonderful fish, and besides the well known fish and chips, there are fish pies, cockles, whelks and many more things from the sea. I have tasted some excellent fish while here, though think I would have preferred my cockles (tiny shellfish) with a hot sauce instead of the traditional vinegar black pepper. 

I could probably go on and on about the foods here in the UK: but will leave you with a list of quick observations in case you get a chance to visit: hot sauces in the UK are not as hot as the US and you won't find that many, fizzy drinks (sodas) are not the drink of choice as much as the US, though I am seeing younger people start to drink them. British people really do drink as much as you might think, though they don't seem to get "drunk" like Americans do when they're drinking. Forget what the chefs on TV say: that you never combine fish and cheese. Those ingredients in fish pie are very tasty. Indian food in UK restaurants tends to be a bit different than US restaurants, with the addition of  the south Indian ingredient, coconut, being added to north Indian cuisine, and apparently some sugar in some of the cream curries. That being said, it really is amazing how many food traditions are different in the countries are different; having a shared history, but like everything else, time creates change and variation. My only recommendation is to try everything as you travel and not stick to eating at places you could find in your own country. 

Food from Pennsylvania and Amish Country

As I am traveling around now doing house sitting, I have made it a point to try any foods that are new or unusual to me. Usually a trip to the local grocery store will tell me exactly what those foods are, and Pennsylvania is no exception. Right away, in the breakfast meat section, I found scrapple. Scrapple is an apt name, as it is pretty much made from the "scraps" of the animal. Pork is the most prevalent, but a beef version is also made. Basically, reading from the pork based label, you read ingredients such as pork ears, snouts, and hearts, and I assume similar from the beef type. Those bits are mixed up with spices and cornmeal into a dense loaf. A lady in the local deli told me that the way people eat it, is to slice the loaf into strips, fry them up in a skillet, and eat them covered in syrup. 

 That made sense to me, considering the cornmeal component of scrapple, so I asked both of the ladies in the deli about how it tastes. Both of them looked at me askance and said "I'm not eating that, but it's on our breakfast buffet on Saturday mornings, if you want to try it!". I had thought about trying it, but didn't want to buy a whole loaf, and I though, having had haggis in the UK, that this couldn't be any worse, though I must say, I liked the haggis. 

The history of scrapple comes from the "Pennsylvania Dutch" of the farmlands, who used every bit of the animal after cutting out the more choice portions. There it is also known as "panhaas" or "pan rabbit".  Similar to may cultures way of creating an economical dish of fatty meat scraps and grains into a cheap, filling food product, in that sense, it is really no different than any sausage. 

A subsequent trip to the store for their weekend breakfast bar, brought me face to face with scrapple. I opted for the beef scrapple, as, while I can do "bits" such as hearts and such, something about "snouts" was more than I could get past. Brought home my scrapple and put together a breakfast of the scrapple, fried eggs potatoes. It smelled good, so I didn't have that to get past, and it looked good.

I tried the first bite plain, just to get a real idea of the taste and texture. It was crispy on the outside and a bit mushy on the inside. There is a definite meat flavor, sort of like a meatloaf flavor. It isn't as highly spiced as typical breakfast sausages, had no weird, chewy bits, and so overall, was good. I think the biggest part is getting by what you are reading on the ingredient list. Again, as I said, the beef version, though not the original, "authentic" type, suited me fine. I just don't think I could get past "pork snouts" no matter what the taste. Afterwards, I did try a bit with syrup, which is a common way to eat scrapple as well, and found it to be pretty tasty too. Anyone who's ever dipped their side of breakfast meat into the pancake syrup will understand that. So, all in all, I'd say to give it a try! Historically these types of foods have always been one of using as much of the animal as possible, which was even more important when times were lean. That tradition tends to be more common in Europe than in America these days, where we disdain the scrap meats of our food animals but fill ourselves with processed foods full of chemical ingredients. 

My next foray into local foods will be back in the UK, where I'll be headed next month. Stay tuned.

Savory pies, oh my!

     I can't really explain my extreme love of savory pies, especially since the only ones I ever had well into adulthood, were the cheap, little "pot pies" from the grocery freezer. Once I had tasted other varieties from different countries however, I was hooked. My first savory "pie" was a handheld version, called a samosa, a popular snack that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Available as either vegetarian or non-vegetarian, and accompanied by spicy, tangy, or creamy condiments, they were a delightful revelation in my late twenties. Living in Dallas, I was able to buy them hot and fresh from the local Indo-Pak stores, and would be embarrassed to admit to how many of them I actually ate. One of my regular grocers also had another version of these ubiquitous hand held pies, which were simply referred to, as "chicken patties". Milder spices in ground chicken and baked in a puff pastry triangle; these quickly became my kids favorite. As I got more into cooking foods from other parts of the world, I found that the samosa had spread to Africa, where it was called a "samoosa".  Local festivals introduced me to spanakopita, the Greek spinach and feta cheese hand held pies baked in crispy phyllo dough. I was in love, flaky, delicious love.

Within a few years, my travels had me living in the United Kingdom, where I found a plethora of pies of every variety imaginable: pork pies, kidney pies, Cornish pasties, "slices" of all flavors; chicken, cheese and onion, spinach and cheese, and much more. I tried them all, and I tried them a second time, and every bite only made me want more. It was quite a downer to leave the UK and leave behind the incredible variety of offerings available there. I decided to remedy that by making my own savory pies. Some early attempts were laughable, but a decade later, my versions are as good as those I remember eating. Full sized pot pies, hand held pies, samosas, chicken patties, I make them all, and my kids eat them up. I have a special affinity for the hand held variety because they are so easy to carry for a quick meal, and decided to make one of my fusion versions tonight. Fusion, because it was partially chicken patty, with its milder spices and ground chicken in puff pastry, but fusion, because, like the samosas, I added potato and made a tamarind chutney to dip them in. Heavenly!

Also, a shout out to the Original Fried Pie Shop in Jacksonville, Arkansas. I have a nephew to thank for giving me a heads up about this place. While they have hamburgers and other menu items, their focus is fried pies. Unlike the fried pies I grew up with, which were skillet fried, these are deep fried and encased in a pastry that is somewhere between a fried won ton and "squaw bread".  Now I know "squaw bread" isn't a politically correct term, but I've not heard any other term for it, and is the puffy, deep fried bread that Native Americans forced on reservations learned to make with their government-supplied flour ration. The fruit flavored variety was good, but the real stars are the breakfast pies. They are hand pies, but are two hands full, and a very hearty breakfast; filled with your choice of eggs, breakfast meat, and more. If you're ever passing through Jacksonville, Arkansas up US-67 north, make sure to stop in. They're located just off the last Jacksonville exit!

Dinner With My Ancestors

Saturday mornings in the summer in my neighborhood mean the village Farmer's Market is in full swing, so I stopped by today and picked up some fresh corn and patty pan squash. The corn was very sweet and juicy, and I decided to make it for dinner. Being from the South originally, summer meals of fresh garden produce were very common. Those thoughts led me to putting on a big pot of pinto beans to go along with my purchased produce. I had everything on the stove this afternoon when I realized that I had inadvertently put together a meal that not only was common in my Southern upbringing but also the revered foods of my ancestors.

 

Native Americans domesticated the crops of corn, beans, and squash thousands of years ago. These three crops were grown closely together; each helping the other grow. The corn provided support for the vining beans, and the squash grown at base of the corn plant acted like a type of mulch; the wide leaves holding in moisture. In the area of nutrition, the beans eaten with the corn provided a complete protein that provided adequate nutrition even during times when game might be scarce.

 

Ceremonies were often held to honor the contribution of these foods, and corn meal was often sprinkled by healers and shamans as part of important rituals. Native Americans referred to these three crops as the "Three Sisters".

 

If I had leaned towards my Southern roots, I might have cut up the squash with onions, floured it, and fried it in a skillet. Corn would be cut off the cob, the cobs scraped, and cooked in a skillet with butter, salt, and pepper, and the beans would be cooked with a big ham bone. If it had been a Native American meal, the corn might have been made into patties, and the beans and squash cooked together with game; perhaps squirrel. What ended up happening was an amalgamation of my cultures and experiences. The corn was, in fact, cut from the cobs and the cobs scraped for the milky corn starch and fried in a skillet with butter, but instead of the salt and pepper, I added lime and cayenne pepper, to make it reminiscent of Mexican "elotes", which are spiced, roasted ears of corn on a stick. I also made the requisite pot of beans, pinto variety, and sauteed my patty pans with garlic, onion, and olive oil. While that could happily be a complete meal for me, I also bought some fresh, whole red mullets from the grocery, and pan fried them, and topped them with a yellow tomato and red onion salsa seasoned with lime, salt, and a bit of sugar. I guess I really don't have a "style" of cooking. It is a lot like me: a mixture from all over.

 



 

 

Jhinga Pulao (Indian pilaf with prawns)

Tonight's dish was one that I hadn't cooked in at least ten years, but while looking desperately around the grocery store trying to figure out what to make for dinner, I spied some organic Pacific shrimp on sale. This dish is fairly quick and easy to make and nothing more is necessary except a sliced vegetable salad and/or perhaps a vegetable curry. One important note on cooking any dish with yogurt: all dairy products have a tendency to curdle in cooking if you aren't careful and while it doesn't ruin the dish, the little pieces of curdled yogurt don't look particularly appetizing. After using yogurt for years, I have found that typical American yogurts always curdle, especially the low fat ones. Part of the reason is the added ingredients needed to hold them together, as many of them are nothing more than dairy "jello". If you have an international grocery store near you, buy the full fat yogurt, which is usually 210-230 calories per cup. It is all yogurt and no fillers like gelatin or other binding agents. It also just tastes a lot better.

Jhinga Pulao

1/2 pound raw shrimp (head on/off, shell on/off doesn't matter, but don't use salad shrimp or precooked)

One onion, finely diced

1 cup full fat yogurt

2 cups basmati rice (no substitution on this!)

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon ground turmeric

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon cayenne powder (less if you like, but remember it will flavor the rice too)

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Salt to taste; at least 1 1/2 teaspoon

Put rice into a bowl and cover with water and allow it to sit while you are preparing the shrimp. This allows basmati rice to start expanding, so that by the time you cook it, its wonderfully long, slim kernels will have expanded to their fullest and fluffiest. In a separate bowl, add the yogurt, turmeric, garlic, cayenne, coriander, cumin, and black pepper and stir to make the marinade for the shrimp.

If your shrimp need cleaning or prepping, do that, then add them to the marinade and let them sit as well. In a non-stick pan, heat the oil, then add the diced onions, allowing them to become golden.  Next, drain the rice, and add it to the oil and onion, making sure that there isn't a lot of water going in with it. Stir it for a few minutes, allowing the rice to slightly fry with the onions, then add the shrimp with all it's marinade. Continue cooking on medium to allow the spices in the yogurt to cook, because raw spices in Indian cooking is a major faux pas.

After about five minutes, add enough water to the pot to cover the rice and shrimp, add salt, cover, and cook on medium until water is almost absorbed in the rice. Try to leave the lid on as much as possible to allow the steam to cook the rice. A glass lid is handy for keeping an eye on your dish. Once the dish has absorbed most of the water, turn off the heat, keep the lid on, and allow the rest of the water to absorb and steam-fluff the rice. Before serving, stir the rice carefully, making sure not to mash or cut up the long grains. This serves about 3-4 people and is very light on meat protein. If you want, you could add a full pound of shrimp, but less is actually more authentic.

As you can see from the photo, I used shell on shrimp. Leaving the shell (or even the heads on) will give more flavor to the pulao. If you use some good shrimp, it shouldn't have a fishy taste, which I have found that the frozen, pre-cooked type does have. These shrimp were about 3 inches long and very meaty. This is one case where bigger is better.

Tasty Little Packets - Wontons

It seems like every culture has some type of small food in handy little packets. Whether the wontons in today's recipes, eggrolls, samosas from the Indian subcontinent, somusas from Africa,pirogi from eastern Europe, or empanadas or tamales from Central and South America. Whatever the culture, they have something in common: they are usually labor-intensive and so made in a group. This not only speeds of the process of making them in a sort of assembly line style, but it also tends to be a very social activity as well. Unfortunately for me, today's wontons were a totally solo affair, so they took some time to finish, but they are well worth it. Wontons are small circles or squares of dough filled mainly with meat, then boiled, pan fried, or deep fried to serve. This recipe is an adaptation of one my good friend Annette showed me years ago. Annette's grandparents came from China and settled in Panama to work on the Panama Canal and still live there. Despite three generations of family in Panama, they have held on to their Chinese roots, preparing many delicious, authentic meals.

Wontons are very versatile. They can be boiled and eaten with a sauce alone or along side other dishes, or boiled and added to Asian-style soups. If you choose to put them in soup, it is important to boil them first, then put them in the soup to avoid adding an unintended starch component to the soup, as the wonton skins are dusted in flour. This recipe will make approximately 90 wontons, which is two packages of wonton skins. If you don't want to make that many, just half the other ingredients and use one package.

Wontons
1 1/2 pound ground chicken (original recipe used pork)
One 12 oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped finely
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 teaspoon granulated onion (do not use fresh onion)
2 packages wonton wrappers

A note about the ground meat. If you do not have any prohibitions about a particular meat, pork is the most traditional and the tastiest. Chicken is the best substitute, as both ground turkey and ground beef have much too strong a flavor to use in the wontons. Try to find a ground chicken that is fairly lean as well, if you have that choice. Preparing the wonton mixture is very easy. Start out by finely chopping the water chestnuts.



While fresh ingredients are usually the best, fresh water chestnuts are one ingredient you likely will not find, and the canned are fine. Just rinse them out of the can to get rid of some of the tinned taste. After chopping, add the water chestnuts, granulated (or powdered) onion, and the oyster sauce. Oyster sauce is similar in function to soy sauce in that it provides the salt component to Asian dishes but is thicker and has a very slight fish taste. The fish taste will not be apparent in your wontons and soy sauce is not a good substitute because again, its flavor is too strong.

Once your ingredients are all mixed, you are ready to make your wontons. Wonton wrappers will usually be in the frozen section of the grocery store, so make sure you have had them in the fridge long enough to thaw thoroughly. If they aren't thawed, you will tear up the sheets trying to get them apart, and if you try to lay them outside the fridge, they will get too warm and be difficult, if not impossible to work with, similar to pastry dough. Have your equipment ready to go so that wrapping and folding goes quickly. It is messy and your hands will be messy, so you don't want to have to get up to try and get something later. I suggest a cutting board or similar surface to lay your wontons on if needed, your bowl of filling, a small teaspoon, a baking sheet to place finished wontons on, and a small bowl of water to wet and seal the edges of the wontons.

Start by placing a small teaspoon of filling onto a wonton skin. Do not try to overfill each wonton, as it will not fold easily and would end up opening up while cooking.

After placing the meat on the wonton, use your finger to wet around the edge of the wonton. The water will mix with the flour dusting on the wonton skin and act like a glue to hold the wonton closed.

 

Next, fold the wonton over into a half moon shape, using your fingers to smooth out any air pockets and firmly seal the edges.

After sealing in the filling, the folding begins. First fold the wonton in the middle so that the ends touch, not folding over, but a downward fold that will make the wonton look a little like a fortune cookie.

Next, using your fingers, add some water to one end and press it against the other end to make a rounded shape.

Place the wonton on your baking sheet if you plan to cook it at a later date, making sure that the wontons aren't touching, otherwise they will stick together.

Folding wontons may seem difficult at first, but you'll quickly develop a rhythm. If you have a helper or helpers it will go much faster.

Wontons that aren't going to be cooked and eaten immediately should be frozen. Just put the baking sheet into the freezer, uncovered, until they are frozen well, then place them into plastic containers or bags for storage in the freezer.

When you are ready to cook your wontons, you will cook them from the freezer. DO NOT thaw them out, or they will lose their shape and fall apart as they cook. If you are boiling them to eat either plain or in a soup, start the water boiling well first. Then drop in the frozen wontons, making sure not to add so many that they are crowded in the pot. This will keep the water temperature from getting too cool and keep them from sticking together as well. Once the wontons float, they are ready to remove from the pot. The wonton skin will have also changed color from solid white to a slightly translucent white and the ground chicken will be thoroughly cooked. This usually takes about 7-9 minutes per pot. If deep frying the wontons, just add them to hot oil, again making sure not to crowd them. They can be eaten in soup, or fried or boiled with dipping sauces such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweet chili sauce, or even gyoza dipping sauces, which can all be found in the "oriental" section of your local supermarket.

Pancit

Pancit is like the macaroni and cheese of the Philippines. Every household has eaten it, cooks it differently, and thinks theirs is the best. Most restaurants that sell Pancit attach another name to it, such as pancit bijon or pancit canton, to denote a regional variation or special ingredient. It is a family-style dish, fast and easy to make, and a typical Filipino fast food. In fact, the word "pancit" which is used to mean "noodle" in the Philippines, actually comes from Hokkien Chinese "pian i sit" and translates literally to "something cooked conveniently fast". The longest part of cooking is likely soaking the dried rice noodles, but even that is less than 30 minutes, and while they are soaking, vegetables can be chopped and ready for the pan.

Basic Pancit

One bag of dried rice noodles (narrow ones are more traditional, but I used wide ones from my pantry)
One onion, sliced thin
3 bell peppers, any color, julienned

Cabbage, half a medium head, sliced very thin into shreds

2 cups meat or meat substitute of your choice, I used Quorn meat substitute
1/4 cup oil
4-5 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar

Start by soaking the entire package of rice noodles in a bowl of warm water, making sure the noodles are submerged.

While the rice noodles are soaking, start chopping vegetables into fairly uniform sizes so that they will cook uniformly. I used the vegetables I already had on hand, which is the common way to make pancit. Other vegetables that can be used are bean sprouts, baby corn, green onions, broccoli, or whatever you would normally like in a stir fry. Once the vegetables are chopped and the noodles feel soft, heat the oil in a pan, and add the meat first (if uncooked) or vegetables first if the meat is already cooked and chopped. Because Quorn is a frozen meat substitute, I added it first, along with the garlic.

Next add the meat or vegetable, whichever you didn't start with stir frying on heat heat until the cabbage starts to wilt.

Finally, add the noodles, sauces, and sugar, and stir fry until the noodles soften more, and the ingredients are incorporated evenly. Serve immediately. This makes enough for 4 hungry people. Don't be afraid to experiment with different vegetables and meats as you like. Shrimp, chicken, and pork are very popular choices, as are the vegetables I mentioned earlier. An easy dish to pull from your pantry on a busy night.