Chicken Tinola Soup

Written by Theresa Marcelo on 03/04/2018 in Chicken, Filipino, Soups, Vegetables

Chicken Tinola Soup (Chicken with Green Papaya Ginger Soup)

Just like any other state or country, there is always the easiest, cheapest and yet, so comforting and nourishing soup that we always crave for. This is always a popular dish for Filipinos every now and then. Perfect for anytime and is inexpensive, delicious and everybody loves it. Well, not really for some people due to it’s gingery flavor. This is great for toddlers and kids too since they are so easy to eat and healthy as well. Mothers who are breastfeeding in the Philippines consider this as one of the healthiest soup so they often consume them more for health benefits.

Before you start doing anything else, I recommend reading my tips first, that way, you might want to follow some ideas there that will affect your grocery-shopping or the way you will cook and prepare some ingredients. Just like any other subject, there are always rules and guidelines but sometimes rules are meant to be broken, right? It is always good to have them so you can have an idea, correct? However, you can cook this dish the way you like it. I bet it will still taste delicious and you just feel great abut it. Hope it helps 😉

Prep Time: 20-25 minutes

Cooking Time: 40-45 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

1 lb party wings
1 lb chicken breast with bone(or whole if you prefer) – cut up in small bite-sized pieces
1 cup moringga leaves(malunggay) or hot pepper leaves. Spinach is okay if you can’t find either one
2 cups of green papaya cut up in cube size (1 inch by 2 inches). You can use chayote if green papaya is not available
1 knob(thumbsize) of ginger sliced in small pieces
1/2 cup white onions chopped
4-5 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 tsp pink salt
1 bouillon cube
10 cups water or more if needed(you can add if you want more broth)
4 tbsp olive oil

Condiments: (Optional)

1 tbsp lemon juice or calamansi
3 tbsp. fish sause
1 pc of chili pepper(smashed. optional)

Directions:

Cut chicken in small pieces and boil with bones in 10cups water for 30-35 minutes or more if you want to make extra broth. Scoop them out and put in a jar or any glass container if you want to save the broth. Freeze broth for future use. Add more water if needed and boil for another 20-25 minutes. Scoop out the chicken. Set aside.
Heat another pan w oil. Sautee ginger, garlic and onions. Add chicken, then salt while sautéing. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Add bouillon cube if you have.
Drop the green papaya and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour the broth and let it boil for 25-30 minutes.
Turn off
Drop spinach/leaves and put ground black pepper. Stir
Serve wth steamed rice.

Tips:

If you plan to make any soup or stew later on(Turkey leftovers are great for this too), you can also buy whole chicken and boil it for 60-90 minutes with more water to make extra broth as well. Save the broth and/or the meat in the freezer for later use. Or rather, make couple of dishes in that one day. You save time and steps in boiling, washing and cutting up
Other meals that you can make together with this: Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Afritada(chicken stew), Chicken Noodle soup, Chicken Sinigang(tamarind soup), Sotanghon soup, (Chicken glass noodle soup)
If you have no time to let the chicken to cool down, you can use fork and knife to start cutting up and shredding the meat versus doing all of them with your hands. I find this easier and faster
Optional: If you love vegetables, like me, you can also add whatever leftover greens you have in the fridge. I know, if you have kids, they might not like seeing it with too much veggies, but so what, they’ll get used to it and they don’t have any choice but eat them anyways lol! They’ll get used to eat later on, and before you know it, they’re eating them unconsciously lol ;p
Try to put more chicken than usual if you worry about consuming too much carb(rice)
You noticed I added a pinch of turmeric. It doesn’t really affect the taste although it will change the color a little bit. I have started adding turmeric powder into my cooking couple of years ago since it has many health benefits, so I said why not, coconut ;p
If you’re trying to be on a diet, you can just have the soup with lots of veggies, shred some of the meat as well to stay out of carbs

Enjoy!

“Cookery is not chemistry. It is an Art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements”. – Xavier Marcel Boulestin (French Chef)