[Recipe] Pancit Molo

Pancit Molo
Originally uploaded by Jepster.

Another favorite dish our family serves during special occasions. Traditionally, my mom would cook this for birthdays or similar special occasions. It's a very filling soup dish made from ground pork and chicken. It's a bit complicated to make but you can mix a huge batch of the meat mix then store it in the freezer in portions to thaw and prepare later. I have written this recipe with inputs from my brother. My brother and I attended a party right after Christmas and the news of how tasty his pancit molo was preceded him with some of the people there calling him the "Molo Man". Haha he doesn't know these people, they were friends from work but they came over for my birthday a few days before so they tasted his pancit molo already. There's a story floating around that one of my colleagues liked it so much that when he went home, he was raving about it to his wife. Unfortunately, he didn't know that she was planning that same dish for their Christmas feast. She decided to change the menu after hearing that. Wrapping the meat is somewhat time consuming so you can prepare this in advance and drop them into the pot to cook when it's near eating time giving it a few more minutes to simmer in the pot. And what if you are allergic to shrimp? Well, I feel so sorry for you. I really do. (optionally you can add grated carrots in the meat mix just to give it some color especially if you omit the shrimps).
[**Updated 25 Dec 2017]

Ingredients:
1/4 kilo Ground Pork
Spring Onions (chopped)
1 Egg
1 pack Molo/Wanton wrappers (50pcs)
100 grams Shrimps (shelled)
3 pcs Chicken Breasts
Chicken broth (or chicken bullion)
1 bulb of Garlic (half crushed and the other finely minced)
2 medium sized Onions (finely chopped)
Ground Black Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Molo
Originally uploaded by Jepster.

minced pork

minced garlic

chopped onions

grated carrots (optional)

sliced spring onion

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in a pot and cover it with just enough water so that all the pieces are submerged. Add a dash of salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature after it boils and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts from the pot. Sieve the liquid and set aside. Shred a chicken breast into strips and thoroughly mince the rest.

In a mixing bowl, combine the ground pork, minced chicken meat, egg, finely chopped onions, minced onion, and spring onions (leave some for the broth later). Mash well adding salt and pepper (the amount would depend on individual tastes but I recommend 1 teaspoon of salt and about half a teaspoon of ground pepper).

To make the molo "heads", place a molo wrapper on a flat surface. Place about a heaping teaspoonful of the meat mixture near one corner of the wrapper. Imbed a piece of shrimp to each ball. Wrap the top part of the wrapper to the "meat ball" then the two sides, then roll downwards (please refer to the picture). The wrapped molo should resemble something like a tadpole. Make several of these heads. You can place the meat mixture back to the freezer and thaw it to use again.

To make the soup broth, Saute the crushed garlic in minimal oil until golden. Remove garlic and pour in the liquid that was used to boil the chicken breasts adding more chicken broth or broth made from chicken bullion. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken strips, then drop the molo "heads" one at a time keeping the broth to a rolling boil while doing so. Once cooked the molo heads will float. Add the remaining spring onion then simmer for 5 to 8 minutes more. DO NOT COVER! Serve piping hot.