Bed Weather Soup
June 14, 2012 § Leave a comment
Well good-bye summer and hello rainy days. It rained most of the day the other day and on a holiday to boot. We stayed home and the cool “bed” weather called for comfort food. What’s more comforting on a rainy day than hot chicken soup? Not any kind of chicken soup mind you. I was craving for my childhood favorite, Tinolang Manok, a staple in many dinner tables in my neck of the woods, including ours. A bowl of this light ginger based soup never fails to make me feel all warm and fuzzy. So I trooped to the supermarket next door for some essential ingredients.
Tinola is a Tagalog or Cebuano term for soup based dish and is traditionally cooked with chicken. Unlike the chicken soup of the west, this soup uses ginger and lemon grass to flavor. Core ingredients would be chicken (but of course), ginger (lots and lots of it), green papaya, lemon grass and this new super food called malunggay, scientifically known as Moringa. We sometimes alternate it with green pepper leaves – both have the peppery kick.
You may serve it as a starter course but it is perfect as a main dish, me thinks. I like my rice soaking with the soup almost like congee and each spoonful of chicken, green papaya and the rice is absolutely soothing.
Tinolang Manok (adapted from Namit Gid! Cookbook)
What You’ll Need:
- 1 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces
- 1 tbsp. cooking oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium-sized onion, sliced
- 1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
- water or rice washings to cover
- 1 stalk tanglad (lemongrass), bruised
- green papaya, seeded and cut into wedges
- patis or fish sauce
- crushed pepper
- malunggay leaves
What you do:
- Heat cooking oil and sauté garlic, onion and ginger. Add chicken pieces and brown slightly.
- Add water or rice washings and tanglad. Season with fish sauce and pepper.
- Cover and let it simmer. When chicken is half-cooked, add papaya.
- Cover and let it simmer until chicken and papaya are tender.*
- Just before serving, remove tanglad and add malunggay leaves.
- Cook for 2 more minutes. Serve hot.
* To remove the fat, let it cool until the oil floats and remove as much from the surface.
Storm In My Kitchen 
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