Tinolang Manok
Here’s an old culinary question, matatawag mo bang Tinola kung walang papaya? (Can you consider it a Tinola if there’s no papaya?) Some people say it is, some says it’s not. Well as for me it’s still Tinola as long as the basics are there and alternatives are available. Like papaya can be substituted with sayote (chayote) and dahon ng sili (chili leaves) with malunggay (moringa) leaves. Here in the Middle East dahon ng sili and malunggay are scarce and it’s not available in the market. Sometimes we go malunggay leaves picking on vacant and abandoned lots and the funny thing is those other nationalities who saw us are asking what it is for. I always told them it’s for medicinal purposes (hahaha) to cure my palate. A vast majority of expats in the Emirates loves chili on their food especially Indians, Pakistanis and some Arabs but ironically chili leaves are off their list. I remember planting one our balcony but it was ruined by insects before harvesting its first talbos (young tender leaves). No chili leaves or malunggay picking this time. Call it a Tinola or not, I don’t care mmm sarap naman eh!
Ingredients:
-1-2 tbsps. vegetable oil
-half kilo of chicken cut into pieces
-a thumb-sized ginger sliced
-1 sayote cut into desired pieces
-2 cloves of garlic
-1 small minced onion
-1 to 2 pcs. of chili (siling haba)
-a few sprigs of parsley leaves (chili leaves sustitute)
-1 tbsp patis (fish sauce)
-water
-salt & pepper
-Cook it in a classic way using the ingredients above.
1. sauté garlic, onion and ginger. Add the chicken, sealed-in the meat for while (sangkutsa) together with the fish sauce to give the meat more flavor.
2. add an ample amount of water
3. bring in to boil then add sayote and chili, simmer for another 5 mins.
4. add salt and pepper
5. whacked in the parsley leaves for 30secs. before removing it from the heat
Naku ang sarap nyan. Pahingi naman. Di kasi ako marunong magluto kaya puro kapsa (kamsa) lang kain ko most of the time.
Kaka homesick.
Comment by myepinoy — October 20, 2005 @ 10:06 pm
hi, just found your blog! i’ve got a collection of pinoy foodie blogs on mine — how neat — we keep on growing! sali ka naman ng “Lasang Pinoy” sometime — click on the button on my blog:D. will be visiting again soon! your pics look awesome.
Comment by stef — October 23, 2005 @ 4:06 am
Hi,
I lived for 13 years in UAE, Bahrain and Oman, and I found many malunggay trees there. Check out the plaza in Oman, the road from Abu Dhabi to the Catholic church , where malunggay trees were planted and in Dubai, visit Karama area. I found malunggay trees there and they allowed us to picked them.
Good luck!
Comment by perkycinderella — February 5, 2007 @ 1:21 am