Only P150.00 for a gigantic serving of Palabok?!
Last month, Mom was craving for palabok during the ECQ. Ordering one bilao of palabok from the usual palabok vendors cost at least P600-P700, and I’m not even happy with the measly toppings.
So when I saw a friend post her palabok on Facebook, where she used Mang Inasal’s Ready-to-Cook packs, I was curious! She said that the palabok sauce only cost P61.00!!! ONLY P61.00??!
THE PALABOK HACK
I asked her about it and I eventually found a nearby Mang Inasal branch that had the Ready-to-Cook packs available. Sadly, not all Mang Inasal branches will sell you the Ready-to-Cook packs. Some will say that they only have enough stock for their own needs and don’t have enough to sell. Alternatively, I also saw some people selling the Mang Inasal Ready-to-Cook packs on Viber.
Here’s the link to Mang Inasal branches + their contact numbers: https://stores.jfc.com.ph/manginasal.html
I ordered 2 packs each of the 1kg pack Palabok Sauce (P61.00) and the 300g Palabok Toppings, as well as 2 packs of Paa (5 chicken quarters, P287.00).
The palabok sauce and palabok toppings were sold frozen.
MAKING THE PALABOK
Defrost the palabok sauce and toppings.
I boiled 1 pack of bihon because I didn’t have any palabok noodles. Because I like it ma-sauce, I only used a 227g pack of bihon. My friend was able to use 400g of bihon for 1kg of palabok sauce. It’s up to you – use the amount of bihon for the noodles to sauce ratio that you like.
Heat up the palabok sauce in a big kawali. I heated it to at least boiling stage just to make sure that it is safe to eat.
After boiling and draining the cooked bihon, I added them to the palabok sauce that has been cooking. Mix well. Arrange the palabok noodles on a serving platter.
Next, I sauteed the palabok toppings. I wasn’t satisfied with the small 300g pack of palabok toppings. Parang ang kaunti niya for the amount of palabok noodles. You can use 2 packs of the palabok toppings instead, or, you can add additional toppings that you like.
So I decided to add some shrimp that we already had on hand, and also hard-boiled some eggs for additional garnish. Just add whatever toppings you want – you may add some squid, tinapa, vegetables, etc…
Arrange the toppings on top of the palabok, garnish with some green onions, serve with some calamansi, and it’s done!
CHICKEN BARBECUE
As for the pack of Paa, I had asked our helper to do the barbecue while I worked on the palabok. The chicken was already marinated – there was really nothing else to do to it except to barbecue it.
My one regret was that I should have ordered some Chicken Oil! It had totally slipped my mind to order chicken oil when I ordered the Paa.
All in all, this was a very easy meal to put together, and relatively inexpensive. The palabok sauce + toppings only cost P150, and can serve up to 8-10 people, depending on how many bihon noodles you use. The bihon, eggs and shrimp, I just took from our existing stash.
The Paa yields 10 pcs of chicken (5 leg quarters that you can separate into drumstick and thigh pieces) – that’s less than P30.00 per piece.
I set up a “picnic” table outside on the patio, so we can at least enjoy the summer of 2020. I also served some ice cold water, cold softdrinks, and dessert.
Palabok Hack: The Ready-to-Cook Palabok Sauce & Toppings from Mang Inasal feels like a cheat code – this is the easiest way to make palabok aside from the Instant Palabok. I really hope that the Ready-to-Cook Packs continue to be available, please don’t take them away!
I also like that I have full control over the toppings that I add to the Palabok. I can put whatever I want on it 🙂 Hindi ka na madi-disappoint dahil tinipid ka sa toppings ng inorderan mo. ?
Called up Mang Inasal just now and fortunately, the Ready-to-Cook packs are still available. However, it really depends on the branch. Some branches don’t want to sell them because they don’t have enough stock daw.
