Sotanghon (Vermicelli) Soup

I used to never understand the difference between sotanghon (vermicelli) and bihon (rice noodles) until I started to cook them myself. Well, after a few months of cooking did I only get to know the difference between the two--note though that I seldom use these noodles for cooking. Sotanghon is made from green beans (or mung beans) and bihon is made from, well, rice. Okay, what exactly does that mean? I still did not know and would just buy the noodles that I felt like buying.

After cooking, I would complain to myself why my dish was not the same as the previous one. After using both noodles a few more times, I realized that one seems slimier than the other. So again, what does that mean?

So last week, I made my second successful pancit guisado (). I made the first successful one about 2 years ago, yes, it was that long. I didn't make the dish for a long time because I couldn't seem to get it right.

So today, I wanted to make soup that used noodles that looks like sotanghon or bihon. Since I only have sotanghon left, that's the one I used. And voila! I finally understood the difference between the two. Sotanghon is slimier than bihon, which, to me, makes bihon a better noodle for pancit guisado and sotanghon, a better noodle for soups. *sigh* As if this needs somebody with the brain of a rocket scientist to figure out. *embarrassed*

Anyway, let's start. Below are the ingredients and procedure I followed.

Sotanghon Soup

Ingredients:

100g Ground Chicken

100g Sotanghon (Vermicelli)

1 pc Carrot, sliced thinly

3 pcs Tenga ng Daga (Wood Ear Mushrooms), sliced thinly

1/2 of small Cabbage

8 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, sliced

Few leaves of wansui (Chinese Parsley), chopped

1 pc Chicken Cube

5-6 cups Water

5 tbsp Canola Oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. Season ground chicken with salt and pepper, mix well

2. Heat 3 tbsp canola oil in a pan

3. Once heated, add the ground chicken

4. Try to "squash" the chicken into the pan and try to separate the clumps (you wouldn't have this problem if you use sliced chicken meat instead)

5. Once chicken has changed color, remove from heat

6. Add 3/4 of the onion and garlic, cook until onion changes color

7. Add carrots, cook for about a minute

8. Add cabbage and tenga ng daga, cook for another 2 minutes

9. Remove from heat

10. Pour the rest of the canola oil

11. Add the remaining onion and garlic, cook until garlic changes color

12. Add water and chicken cube, bring to a boil

13. Add the dry sotanghon

14. Cook until sotanghon strands look completely transparent

15.Test if sotanghon is done

16. Once done, add the vegetables and chicken. Mix well

17. Serve immediately

Notes:

- Sotanghon noodles can absorb liquid pretty quickly, so this soup must be served immediately

- If you need to serve it later, remove the sotanghon prior to adding vegetables and chicken

- Once the noodles are away from the liquid, they will start to clump up, don't worry, they will de-clump (?) once you put them in the water again

- I think I had too much noodles in this recipe because my soup disappeared in a flash lol

- I guess I need to add more water or use less noodles next time

Have you tried making sotanghon soup before? How was it?