Dad + Pancit Molo

Pancit Molo
prepared by Pedro Sotomil

This pancit molo recipe comes from Pedro Sotomil, a retired medical technician, whose family hails from Santa Barbara, Iloilo.

While working in a Chicago hospital, Pedro recognized a familiar face among the other Filipino employees. Francisca, a nurse, had also emigrated from Iloilo, and she had attended the ballet school where Pedro had been an assistant instructor. With the nine-year age difference between them, he had barely noticed her at the time, but now in this new land, he was so happy to find someone closely connected to home. They became friends instantly and met up for dinners after work. Friendship quickly led to romance and they married in the city that they would make their home together. They relocated to the south suburbs where they raised their daughter.

 Pedro spent his childhood running errands in service of his parents’ candy factory and grew up surrounded by the sweet aroma of cooking confections. Between packaging and selling candies as well as tending to the other family businesses, he was often at his mother’s side, assisting her at the market or delivering parcels to his older and younger siblings at their respective schools when necessary. As the fifth child of eight, he had many responsibilities, however, cooking was never one of them. He learned to cook out of necessity when he and some of his siblings immigrated to the United States. Equipped with a copy of Philippine Cooking in America, the memories of traditional Filipino meals at home, and a general propensity for innovation, Pedro taught himself to cook so that he could continue to care for his siblings.

 This newly-acquired skill served him well when he began his own family. Pedro became the primary cook for his wife and daughter. Although always cooking out of a sense of duty rather than out of interest, he used it as a way to express his limitless creativity, particularly through the treats he sent with his daughter to share with her classmates at school. He utilized his knowledge of candy for these projects and on occasion, would artfully show off his dexterity with cellophane. His cooking skills improved over time and some of his dishes, including this recipe for pancit molo, became mainstays at family celebrations. He continues to reference his now tattered copy of Philippine Cooking and it is lovingly stained with traces of delicious meals from the last forty years.

My dad and his pancit molo recipe were the main inspirations for the Panlasa Community Cookbook. I made molo with him throughout my childhood and I will never forget the sight of little dumplings on sheet trays all over the kitchen, the stickiness on my fingers after pinching all the wrappers shut, and my dad telling me that if done properly, the molo should look “like the head of a nun.” As I grew up, I thought about all the cooking lessons my dad gave me over the phone after I moved away from home. I, like him, learned to cook out of necessity and when I was so far from the familiar, all I craved was the comfort of his cooking. He taught me how to cook like he does, which is to cook intuitively without strict recipes: to cook to my taste. That led me to wonder what I would do when he was no longer around to instruct me. Our tastes change over time, and if I continue to cook to my taste, I might forget what my dad’s version of things tasted like, maybe even what his famous pancit molo tasted like. I might forget what size he cuts his shrimp or I might forget not to stir the soup too much after I add the molo.

This project was born from the idea of remembering some of the details with the hope of providing comfort by keeping these personal recipes alive and accessible. It showcases a style of cooking that does not quite mirror the cuisine of origin nor does it fall into the category of ‘American.’ This project is a snapshot of a unique cuisine in the making, one that will continue to evolve as generations of Filipino Americans continue to cook.

Lastly, Panlasa was meant to commemorate the stories of the resilient and hardworking Filipino Americans who created new lives in a new land. As their descendants, we owe them a debt of gratitude for venturing out to provide us a world of new opportunity. We also owe them simply for keeping us well fed. This is for them and this is for all those who came after them. Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.