Filipino Tinola
"I can't believe there's no recipe for Tinola on this site. it's a staple of Filipino cuisine, and it's basically a ginger chicken stewish soup. I've modified my mom's recipe to include only chicken breasts, as the original includes all sorts of chicken parts that I don't eat. As Filipino recipes are meant to be taste-tested at every step and tweaked to one's liking, these should only be general guidelines to help you perfect your own Tinola recipe."
- Ready In:
- 25mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Serves:
-
2
ingredients
- 2 -3 chicken breasts, cut up into small pieces
- 2 -3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons gingerroot, zested
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 chayote, peeled and cubed (You can also substitute green papaya or winter melon)
- olive oil
- 3⁄4 - 1 cup water
directions
- Saute garlic, onion and ginger in oil for 30 seconds over med heat.
- Add chicken and saute until chicken meat turns white. Add fish sauce.
- Cover and simmer until chicken is almost completely cooked (7-10 min.). At this point, there will be a fair amount of broth, since all the juices from the chicken are coming out.
- Add water (I usually add 3/4 cup and that gives me a pretty good, concentrated flavor. my mom adds a little more than a cup, and the flavor is much mellower and sometimes I add more fish sauce at the table. really, you should just experiment).
- Add chayote and simmer for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Serve over rice.
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Reviews
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When I found this recipe I went shopping for ingredients right away. Luckily I found frozen chili pepper leaves (dahon ng sili) at the Filipino store. Oh my god! Every spoonful of this wonderful tinola cured me of my homesickness. It felt like I was home again. Thank you so much, you have no idea how good this dish made me feel. -
yum. i added about 7 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of fish sauce. 3 tablespoons of fish sauce was a bit too much. added "magic sarap" (a powder seasoning) that is popular here in the philippines. the magic sarap powder helped the flavor immensely. masarap (tagalog for delicious). -
Thanks a lot for this recipe!!! Now, I learn to cook this soothing dish... the broth is just awesome... will definitely cook again! -
what a quick and simple recipe for one of my favorite comfort foods!
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Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe! Our nanny used to make this for us and now I can make it too!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'm a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl at heart, and I've only recently started forcing myself to eat vegetables -- I suppose that's what happens when you are raised to believe that a meal isn't really a meal unless you're eating meat! My passion for food started with my parents -- since food is such a focus of Filipino culture, anything was an excuse for cooking a large meal and inviting friends or family over. Cooking, on the other hand, is something I've only recently started enjoying -- I love having adventures in different parts of the world, and when I can't do that, I love having adventures in the kitchen. So I experiment a lot with new recipes and I'm always in search of the perfect version of something.
I moved up to NYC a couple of years ago for work, and it's been heaven. The food in this city is fantastic, and I especially enjoy going out into Queens for ethnic dining. I work at a union full of burly guys who love to eat, so it's nice to be in like-minded company -- the granola vegans at my last non-profit job just didn't understand.
I'm taking ceramics classes and I travel widely -- my next trip is to Egypt, Jordan and Jerusalem in the fall.
