We had a wonderful version of this dish at Pendy’s in Bacolod. It was lighter and less rich (sum-ul is the Visayan term I would use), with just enough chopped bits of liver and vegetables. The noodles seemed to cooked just enough, oddly “al dente” in texture, I thought, particularly in comparison to our usually more water/broth-logged pancits. So when I spotted the “efuven” noodles at a Saturday market, and then again at a small Chinese food store in Greenhills, I thought I would experiment. And no, I had no idea how an “authentic” Pancit Efuven was made, so if you are Negrense or from Bacolod and I totally screwed this up, please leave me a comment. For my first attempt, I made a saute with onions, carrots, celery, some pork, liver, cabbage and broth and when this was cooked, I added the noodles and let them cook for several minutes. Worried that it looked dry, I added more hot water, which it promptly absorbed…

The result? A delicious, flavorful but almost “too rich” (ngilngig for Visayans) pancit that was best with a lot of kalamansi squeezed on top of it. It was quite soggy, and you couldn’t eat too much of it in one go. It was good but not the light, almost al dente feel of the version we enjoyed in Bacolod. So a few weeks later, I decided to try this again…

The second batch of “Efuven” or “Hipoven” noodles I purchased came with instructions that gave me some clues… the darned noodles were apparently already pre-cooked! And thus didn’t necessarily need to be cooked again. In fact, the accompanying recipe suggested cooking the topping and just plopping them over the dry noodles. I am not a big fan of crunchy noodles, so I thought I would just alter my earlier attempt. This time around, I made a saute with onions, celery, carrots, green beens, cabbage, shrimp, ham, broth and water, a touch of kikkoman, then added the noodles at the last minute, turned off the heat after two minutes and stirred until it was all softened and cooked.

The second batch was better than the first, but still a little soggy. I was able to eat this entire green bowl full of noodles, and again, it tasted better with the kalamansi. But i don’t think I have the concept and heart of dish totally right yet. And if you have some ideas, let me know. The thin noodles approximate a thinner fettucine, and they are a nice vehicle for the broth and veggies. This would make terrific merienda fare, in the same way my favorite pinoy noodles, sotanghon guisado, is brilliant in the late afternoon. But these were not the kind of noodles that some would make a proxy for a viand, in the manner that some highly flavored pancit cantons seem to taste pretty good with some steamed rice in the same spoon full… :)

P.S. I have no idea why they are called “Efuven” of “Hipoven”… probably named after someone or someplace they were invented… They are supposed to be made with flour, eggs and water, but they are quite pale and nearly white when compared to other egg noodles.

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