Filipino recipe

Pancit Bilao (Party Tray Pancit Bihon)

Name: Pancit Bilao
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: 1 kg Super Q Golden Bihon (two 500 g packs); 500 g pork belly or shoulder, sliced thin; 500 g chicken breast, boiled and shredded (keep the broth); 300 g shrimp, peeled; 3 pieces Chinese sausage, sliced on the diagonal; 8 cloves garlic, minced; 2 medium onions, sliced; 3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks; 2 cups green beans, sliced on the diagonal; ½ medium cabbage, shredded; 4 liters (about 16 cups) chicken broth or soup stock; ½ cup soy sauce; ¼ cup oyster sauce; ¼ cup cooking oil; Salt and ground pepper, to taste; Banana leaves, wiped clean and passed briefly over a low flame to soften; 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced; Calamansi, halved; Spring onions, chopped; Cling wrap

The party tray that feeds the whole handaan, made to share or made to sell.

Pancit bihon for a party tray. One kilo of Super Q Golden Bihon feeds at least ten, lined with banana leaves and ready for the handaan or your customer.

Jump to recipe

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 35 min
Total: 65 min
Serves: 10 servings

A pack of Super Q Golden Bihon labeled "Cornstarch Sticks" beside a plate of pancit bihon with Chinese sausage, shrimp, meat, cabbage and spring onions

A bilao is the round woven tray that pancit arrives in at Filipino parties, and a favourite way to sell pancit from home. This is our pancit bihon guisado scaled up for a crowd, with the steps that matter when the noodles have to sit, travel and still look good when the cling wrap comes off.

The rule of the bilao is timing. Cook the noodles slightly underdone, because they keep softening in the tray.

Ingredients

Pancit

1 kg Super Q Golden Bihon (two 500 g packs)
500 g pork belly or shoulder, sliced thin
500 g chicken breast, boiled and shredded (keep the broth)
300 g shrimp, peeled
3 pieces Chinese sausage, sliced on the diagonal
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, sliced
3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 cups green beans, sliced on the diagonal
½ medium cabbage, shredded
4 liters (about 16 cups) chicken broth or soup stock
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup oyster sauce
¼ cup cooking oil
Salt and ground pepper, to taste

For the bilao

Banana leaves, wiped clean and passed briefly over a low flame to soften
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
Calamansi, halved
Spring onions, chopped
Cling wrap

Instructions

1
Line the bilao
Wipe the banana leaves clean and pass them briefly over a low flame until they turn glossy and flexible. Line the bilao with them, shiny side up, letting the edges overlap.
2
Cook the meats
Heat the oil in your widest pan. Sauté the garlic and onions until fragrant, then brown the pork. Add the shredded chicken and the Chinese sausage. Add the shrimp and cook just until pink. Lift everything out and set it aside, keeping the shrimp separate for the top.
3
Cook the vegetables separately
Stir-fry the carrots and green beans for about two minutes, then add the cabbage and toss briefly. Set the vegetables aside so they stay crisp and bright for the tray.
4
Build the sauce
In a large pot, combine the broth, soy sauce and oyster sauce, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Taste it now; the noodles will take on exactly this flavour. Super Q Golden Bihon takes 1 liter of stock for every 250 g, so a full kilo needs all 4 liters.
5
Cook the noodles in two batches
A full kilo rarely fits one pan. Ladle half the hot stock into your wide pan and bring it back to the boil. Add one 500 g pack of Super Q Golden Bihon straight from the pack, with no soaking. Let it boil for 4 minutes before you start loosening the strands, then fold in half of the meats with tongs until the liquid is absorbed. Take it off the heat while the noodles are still slightly firm. Repeat with the second pack, the rest of the stock and the rest of the meats.
6
Assemble the bilao
Spread the noodles over the banana leaves. Arrange the vegetables, shrimp and egg slices on top in neat rows or wedges, tuck calamansi halves around the edge and scatter the spring onions.
7
Wrap it
Let the steam escape for a few minutes before covering with cling wrap. Wrapping it while it is still steaming traps water that drips back onto the noodles.

Tips

Two batches beat one crowded pan. Crowded noodles steam instead of stir-fry and turn soft.

A bilao is judged the moment the wrap comes off. Clear rows of toppings look generous; a heap looks rushed.

Cooking it for someone you love

Turning up at your partner's family party with a full bilao is the Filipino way of bringing flowers to every relative at once.

It is also one of the kindest things to bring a family with a new baby, a wake or a big move: food for everyone, and no plates to return.

Selling it: pancit bilao pang-negosyo

Using two 500 g packs of Super Q Golden Bihon at the ₱50 SRP, the noodles for this bilao cost about ₱100, or ₱10 or less per serving for at least ten. Add your meat, vegetables, banana leaves, tray, gas and labour, then set your price per bilao.

Take bilao orders at least a day ahead, so you buy exactly what each order needs.
Cook slightly underdone. The noodles keep softening during delivery.
Tape a small bag of calamansi and your contact card to the cling wrap. Every bilao at a party can bring in the next order.
Photograph every bilao before it leaves and post it. Your next customer is often someone who saw the last one.

Buying noodles in bulk for your business? See wholesale and distributor orders.