CHICKEN TINOLA
Chicken tinola is a filipino chicken soup that highlights two very underrated ingredients: green papaya and moringa. Yes, papaya can have a savory application! The key is cooking it when it’s green while flavor and texture is more vegetable-like. Moringa is a beautiful plant with small round leaves that is mild in flavor but packed with tons of nutrients. If you can’t source these ingredients, no worries. They are very easy to substitute. This recipe is a quick hack version as compared to the original which uses bone-in pieces of chicken tenderized low and slow in the pot.
CHICKEN TINOLA RECIPE makes 4-6 servings
INGREDIENTS
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thigh cut into medium chunks
1 small green papaya or sub 2-3 chayote squash peeled and chopped
1/2 cup moringa leaves or 1 large handful of baby spinach
1 in thumb of ginger sliced thin
1/2 yellow onion roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp neutral oil
salt and pepper
DIRECTIONS
Heat up a medium sized pot with oil on medium heat. Add in the yellow onion and sauté until translucent 3-4 minutes. Add in the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant and tender 1-2 minutes.
Add the chicken and brown in the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Fill the pot with water, roughly 8-10 cups or at least until all the chicken is submerged under 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium. In the next 5-8 minutes the chicken will release some foam. Skim this off the top and discard.
After about 10 minutes add your green papaya. Put a lid on the pot and let it simmer on medium-low for the next 20 minutes.
Finally, remove the lid and season the broth with fish sauce and salt. This soup is not supposed to be extremely salty or strong in flavor. It should have a clean chicken broth taste with a hint of fish sauce and a nice kick from the ginger. Add the moringa leaves at the end, letting the residual heat cook through.
As always with a filipino dish, this soup is best served with steamed white rice!
