Tinola (Chicken Soup for the Hungry)
My blog statistics show that I get most hits from those searching for siomai recipes and I’m glad that I finally posted one. I also included a recipe for Chinese chilli paste after getting requests by e-mail.
From chats with friends, I’m asked for recipes and questions about certain dishes. Perhaps it would be a good idea to write them down so I can respond to them in an orderly manner. Thus, the Sensual Cook has now opened the floor for questions and comments from neophyte and not so neophyte cooks.
Below I’m posting a recipe for the easiest chicken soup in the Philippines. In some provinces, tinola can also be cooked using pork and fish but in Pampanga, it is usually with chicken. Every now and then frogs are also cooked this way.
This recipe is very good for both summer and rainy days, served hot and tangy. The ginger is both refreshing and warming. The best fowl for this recipe is the free-range variety but any would do as long as you stay away from spring chickens because the soup will not be as tasty.
On substituting ingredients, I have to be honest and say I haven’t cooked this out of the country but I think unripe papayas and fresh chilli leaves are available in Oriental stores. However, I’d like to ask your cooperation and experiment with substitute ingredients that may be more readily available, if not cheaper.
For green papaya, the first choice of substitute is sayote. If unavailable try very unripe melon, the honey dew variety. I think the texture and sweetness would be similar although honey dew does not have papaya’s meat tenderising properties and the chicken has to be cooked longer. If fresh chilli leaves are unavailable, try spinach. Arugula might also do.
Some would cook tinola with peppercorns but I do not. I tried it once and it tastes like a cross between nilaga and tinola. You may wish to experiment though.
Tinola
Ingredients:
1 kg. chicken sliced into desired portions
4 tbsp. crushed ginger (I usually use a more than a handful, add more if desired)
1 small unripe papaya, skinned and sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 cup loosely packed fresh chilli leaves
1 tsp. salt or fish sauce
1 tsp. cooking oil
- Heat cooking oil in a casserole and sauté ginger till golden brown.
- Add chicken and stir till sealed on all sides and lightly salt. Pour a cup of water and apply high heat till it boils. Lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size and toughness of the chicken. Add two cups of water, half cup at a time.
- Put in the papaya and let simmer for around 5-10 minutes or till tender. It’s done if a fork can pierce the papaya without too much pressure.
- Add the chilli leaves and turn off heat after one minute.
This dish is best served with freshly steamed rice and a tiny saucer of fish sauce to dip into.
You have a recipe for chilli paste? How come you never made some for us? Then we could have looked like this —– >
I almost did the last time we had siomai, remember? I even bought the chillies but I didn’t push through with it and you know why! And it’s for your own good.
eto na naman si sensual cook, mukhang mapapabili na naman ako ng papayang hilaw, i miss tinolang manok na eh… tamang tama may malunggay ako dito…
hmmmm :sigh:
Hirap maghanap ng papayang hilaw dito sa Singapore. Have yet to see one, even the greenest of papayas here are already orange-y inside. I’ve used sayote all these years. Buti na lang they sell sayote here; in Ohio, I was at a total loss over what to put instead (I used corn, OK naman pero parang pang-beef ang corn, hindi pang-chicken).
hm, i MUST link up to your sensual cook blog. i’ve got a lot to learn! do you answer to requests? hehe..
hi ruth, yes, karen WILL accept requests… diba karen?
karen, i’ll create the request form this weekend and you can add it to your blog.
dapat nilagay mo na rin yung baked tahong recipe kasi naghahagilap ako ngayon. party na ni m mamaya.
Hello karen…do you think I can use spinach instead of chilli leaves? walang dahon ng sili dito eh or have u tried using other leaves?
andaming tanong eh pwede ko naman subukan
..sensha na, na imagined ko agad tinola, nalusaw utak ko kse ginutom :ferret:
Carms, ok nga ang malunggay sa tinola. At ok na ok din sa ginisang munggo! Ternohan mo pa ng adobo. Next recipe ko nga nag ginisang monggo na yan. At least yun walang substitution kasi available naman yun kahit saan.
Bea, lasang camote na yung hinog na papaya di ba? Subukan mo nga yung melon na honey dew. Testingin mo and tell me how it tastes. As for corn, parang nilaga na yata yun.
Ruth, Catsudon already responded to your question, hehehe!
Sige, puedeng-puede. I’ll even try to reply to your requests in real time if you catch me online. My Yahoo IM ID is k_s_shih. Ayan, in-advert na. 
Catsudon, how was your baked tahong? What did you finally use, butter or cheese?
Thess, spinach will do. Try arugula if it’s easily available since it has a stronger taste. Of course it’s nothing like our native sili but necessity is the mother of invention, didn’t they say?
Beauties, feedback the results of substitution so we know which ingredients are the best replacements. Thanks! :goldfish:
P.S. Jing, the recipe for siomai wrapper is as follows:
Siomai Wrapper
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable or corn oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1. Beat egg and mix with flour till free of lumps.
2. Bring water, cooking oil and salt to a boil, then pour in flour.
3. Remove from heat and beat until mixture forms a ball.
4. Divide the dough into 1 1/4 -inch balls.
5. Roll each ball on a floured board until paper thin. Set aside.
I’ll also integrate that in the recipe entry.
habang catsudon is setting up your request form, eto ang unang request ko: tocino recipe, yung sticky sweet pampanga’s best style! i tried the mama sita marinade, bwiset, nakaka-disappoint!
jing, sobra, pati wrapper, gusto mong gawin? bili ka na lang sa asian store!
lol @ ruth…habang wala pang bayad consultation…ask lang ng ask
found one here in an asian market…pero di yata yun mukhang lumpia wrapper…konti na lang pita bread na 
karen!! success ang tinola ko. hehe but i used sayote coz i can’t find hilaw na papaya here.
enjoy din si hubs and dami namin nakain last night. next experiment, ensalada! i’ll try the papaya salad. thanks!
Ruth, will get to work on your tocino. Basically it’s just sugar, salt, vinegar. Find ascetic acid in the Apotheke.
Jing, siomai wrapper, not lumpia wrapper. I have another recipe for that, hahaha!
Tin, very good! I’m glad you and the hubby enjoyed the tinola. :cat:
ano yung arugula, please? wala naman akong mabiling papayang hilaw!!:sad:
*dabog dabog* :cat:
Thess, check out the link for a picture of arugula.
Nasa palengke yan! Kung walang papaya o sayote, may melon na honey dew? Kahit di sobrang hilaw ok na rin yun.
Ang cute nung pusang nagdadabog-dabog! Parang si Nuala Anne, ang natirang kuting sa bahay! Hi Thess! :cat:
Atchi, I’m not so sure about the unripe melon honey dew. Kakulay pero masyadong makatas ata yun. I may be wrong but I doubt it’ll be easy to find unripe fruits outside the Pinas. After all, the Chinese aside, I think we’re the only other people who has use for every kind of fruit and everything else. Kaya kahit di pa hinog e pinagnanasahan nang masalo ng caserola.
(soon to be isaw —- > :chix:)
Sarap ng pagkaing Pinoy! :heartbeat:
Hey Dang! Glad your tinola turned out ok. :chix: Will try to post more recipes soon.
Benette, I think some greengrocers have unripe fruits since they also stock them a few days or a week prior to putting them on the shelves. They’re sweet but firm. At least they don’t taste like camote, unlike ripe papaya. :frog:
hi, may recipe ba kayo ng baked tahong?… i love baked tahong sobraaaa… thanks..
:help::help::help::help::help::help::bday::bday::bday::grin::grin:
hi, may recipe ba kayo ng baked tahong?… i love baked tahong sobraaaa… thanks..
:help::help::help::help::help::help::::b:grin::grin:
Marie, madali lang naman yun eh. Linisin ang tahong, buksan, lagyan ng kung ano ang gusto mong sangkap. Cheese, butter, lemon, garlic or a combination. Huwag mo lang pagsasabayin yung cheese and butter, it’s too rich. Pop in the oven till the cheese or butter melts. Ganon lang po.
Salamat po!!! I can say that now, i am proud of myself coz i know how to cook already! My husband is very happy with me!!! It’s all because of you guyz!!!! :blooms:
nagluto yung friend ko ng kare-kare yesterday. ang ginamit nya ay yung pata ng baboy. after we ate nangati yung labi ko pati yung gilid nito. It has a smell but i am with her when we bought it in the market. paano po ba mawawala yung amoy at lansa ng pata ng baboy?
Hi Cherrylyn, thanks for all your comments. I’m glad your husband liked your tinola. Give yourself a pat on the back.
As for the pata, suspicious yun ah. It’s possible that it wasn’t cleaned properly. One way of dressing the meat is to submerge it into a pot of freshly boiled water with a few tablespoons of salt and vinegar for a minute then thoroughly scraping the skin. That should also eliminate the smell, assuming the meat is fresh.
On the other hand, it is possible that it wasn’t the pork but the bagoong which made you itch.
wondering if the green papaya in the tinola recipe was common, i thought it was supposed to be sayote? thanks. (don’t know if it’s available where i am though)
thanks for the siomai wrapper recipe karen,now I don’t have to to any asian store here in NZ just to get a pack.:hungry:
:heartbeat::heartbeat::heartbeat:masarap ang tinolang may ampalaya at sotanghon kaysa sa tinolang may papaya:cat::cat:
[...] I came upon an article by the pilgrim on tinolang manok where she mentioned substitute ingredients especially for green papayas. Here is my version. Got it from a colleague of mine about a couple of years ago who cooked it with potatoes as there are neither green papayas nor chayote here in Beijing. (Hmmm, I remember buying chayote once…) The taste is definitely unlike nilaga but the yummy taste and texture of potatoes give it a distinct flavor. Also, like most tinola recipes I found online, he also sauté the chicken instead of boiling it the way my mom does it. (Hers must be Batangueno style?) I have yet to try spinach as substitute for chili leaves. Ingredients: ½ kilo chicken, chopped into desired portions 3-4 tbsp. of crushed ginger 2 tbsp crushed garlic 1 small onion, sliced 1 bowl of potatoes, cut into chunks patis (fish sauce) salt [...]
I use spinach as a vegetable. It’s especially easy with bagged spinach that is already clean.
[...] I came upon an article by the pilgrim on tinolang manok where she mentioned substitute ingredients especially for green papayas. Here is my version. Got it from a colleague of mine about a couple of years ago who cooked it with potatoes as there are neither green papayas nor chayote here in Beijing. (Hmmm, I remember buying chayote once…) The taste is definitely unlike nilaga but the yummy taste and texture of potatoes give it a distinct flavor. Also, like most tinola recipes I found online, he also sauté the chicken instead of boiling it the way my mom does it. (Hers must be Batangueno style?) I have yet to try spinach as substitute for chili leaves. [...]
[...] (the one with red pepper, fiery hot!) and a huge piece of ginger for the next time she makes tinola. She also dutifully lined up at the post office and mailed son a DVD of The Office (Season 2), [...]