🇵🇭 Philippines · Molo district, Iloilo City
Pancit moloIloilo dumpling soup
An Ilonggo soup of pork-and-shrimp dumplings in a clear chicken broth with shredded chicken, spring onion and fried garlic; the dumpling wrappers stand in for noodles.
Origin and history
Pancit molo takes its name from Molo, a district of Iloilo City in Panay that was the designated Chinese quarter in the Spanish period; Chinese traders were settling around there for centuries. 'Pancit' normally means noodles, but here the wrappers take the noodles' place. According to tradition, Chinese residents shouted 'Molo!' to warn of pirate raids. Iloilo opened to international trade in 1855, and people who moved to Negros took the dish with them.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 5 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 45 min
- Hands-on
- 55 min
Ingredients
- 10 medium shrimp, heads and shells saved for the stock; the tails and meat diced for the filling
- 2 tsp cooking oil, for the shrimp stock
- 1/2 chicken breast, boiled in the broth, then shredded
- 1 liter4 cups chicken broth, from boiling the chicken, or store-bought
- 250 g9 oz ground pork, for the filling
- 1 onion, minced; half for the filling, half for the soup
- 6 cloves garlic, 3 minced for the filling, 3 for the soup
- 1 stalk spring onion, chopped; some for the filling, some to serve
- 1 egg, for the filling
- 1 tsp salt, for the filling, plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 pack (about 30 sheets) square molo or wonton wrappers, a few extra for cutting into 1 cm strips
- 500 ml2 cups shrimp stock, made from the heads and shells in 1 liter of water
- 1 liter4 cups water, for the shrimp stock
- fried garlic and chopped spring onion, to serve
Method
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1. Boil the chicken breast in about 1 liter of water for 20 minutes to make the chicken broth. Remove the chicken, shred it and split the shreds in two: half for the filling and half for the soup.
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2. Heat the oil and sauté the shrimp heads and shells for a few minutes. Add 1 liter of water, bring to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Strain and keep 500 ml of the stock.
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3. Mix the ground pork, half of the shredded chicken, the diced shrimp, half the onion, half the garlic, some spring onion, the egg, the salt and the pepper into a filling.
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4. Put a small spoonful of filling in the middle of each wrapper, fold and pinch the edges tightly so the dumpling is sealed; brush the edges with a little water or egg if it will not stick.
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5. Sauté the remaining garlic and onion in a pot until soft, add the chicken broth and shrimp stock and bring to a boil.
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6. Drop in the dumplings and the wrapper strips and add the remaining shredded chicken. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the dumplings float and the filling is cooked through. Do not overcook or they will burst.
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7. Season with salt and pepper, and serve hot, topped with fried garlic and spring onion.
Notes
- Despite the name, pancit molo has no noodles: the dumplings stand in for them. The soup is a Filipino cousin of wonton soup, named after Molo, a district of Iloilo City.
- The broth: chicken broth, with finely chopped shrimp heads in the stock in some homes; some cooks boil ham and chicken bones instead, and Chinese-Filipino cooks may add pork ribs.
- For the clearest broth, boil the dumplings separately in simmering water for about a minute and add them to the stock at the last moment; they are done when they float. Let the broth simmer rather than boil.
- Fillings vary: pork with shrimp is the standard; one cook uses pork, ham and shrimp with Chinese celery (kinchay), another adds crumbled taure (fermented soybean) and a little soy sauce, and some tell of chives. Annatto is sometimes added for color.
- Wrappers were made from scratch in some old households; store-bought square wonton wrappers are the usual shortcut today.
- Make ahead: wrapped dumplings freeze well on a tray before bagging; cook from frozen, adding a minute or two.
Adapted from Negros Season of Culture, Pancit Molo, Market Manila, Pancit Molo a la Marketman, Bite My Bun, Pancit Molo Recipe, and Grid Magazine, My grandfather's molo soup.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.