Tinola is one of the most common Filipino dishes.
It's usually chicken soup combined with green vegetables and leafy greens.
Most Filipinos will surely agree with me that this dish is one of the cravings for cold weather.
Today is stormy weather in Manila. So, before I went to the vegetable stand near my house, Tinola was already in my mind.
Yet, I was wishing that the vegetables that I would be needing were available, or else I'd resort to the next dish.
When I asked "Ate" (the vendor) if they have malunggay, which is one of the greens I needed, she said "None". I tried to look around to confirm it, and yeah, no luck 🙁
Oh no! How could this be? Fortunately, another vendor, who was the husband, gave me a good idea to use the chili leaf instead.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I can use chili leaves. As a breastfeeding mom, I normally buy malunggay leaves as they're good for milk production.
I'm so fortunate that almost all of the ingredients that I needed were available.
I just have to replace the green papaya with chayote and the malunggay with green leaves.
I'm honestly excited to cook this yet sort of nervous because it's my husband's specialty. I wanted to cook a good lunch for him since he worked at the office, and for sure he was expecting a satisfying lunch for today once home.
So here are the ingredients: QUANTITIES
-2 tbsp. of cooking oil.
-1 small sized onion (purple one)
-5 cloves of garlic
-1 small-sized ginger (cut into small pieces)
-1/2 kg. of chicken
-4-5 cups of water
-1 small pc. chayote
-1 stalk chilli leaves
-4 pcs. of green chili peppers
Here are the steps:
- Get a pot to heat and pour the oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until brown.
- After that, put the chicken in and stir until it turns light brown.
- Pour the water and boil for 15-20 minutes. Simmer the meat.
- Put the ginger, green chili, and chayote in until the chayote becomes tender. Seasoned with salt.
- And finally, put the chili leaves. Give it like 1 minute and it's done.
Lunch over Tinola is a satisfying one. My husband gave it a two thumbs up.
My daughter also thanked me and said that she loved it because of the spicy kick (brought by ginger and green chili pepper).
This made my day!