Weekends — the best time to spend almost the entire morning preparing for one sumptuous meal. What better food to serve and share with the whole family? Tender carabao meat boiled for 4 hours–glorious!
Most people use beef for this dish because it’s more available as compared to carabao meat and that’s fine. Cow meat is also good but not as good as the carabao’s. So if you came across carabao meat, don’t think about anything, just take it!
GAME!
Cooking Time: 4-5 hours
Ingredients: 1 kilo Carabao (or cow) meat
Salt
1 medium Sized ginger cut into strips
1 medium sized onion cut into strips
chopped onion leeks (about half cup)
onion leeks, ginger and onion
2 medium sized corn (cut into smaller pieces)
corn cobs
1 small cabbage
pechay
pechay and cabbage
NOTE: It’s best to cook this dish using charcoal
Steps: 1) Prepare the fire and the charcoal. Cooking using this source of heat makes the meat more tender. Slow cooking + Low heat is the secret. 2) Boil the carabao (or beef) meat for about 4 hours. Season with salt. Please keep in mind that the the time may vary depending on how you want it done. Just note that boiling it longer will give you 2 things: a more tender meat and a tastier,jucier broth.
For this particular picture, I boiled the meat for 4 hours
3) You can also boil the corn together with the meat. Just make sure to get it and set aside after 5-10 minutes to avoid overcooking the corn.
Boil andset aside
4) At the 30 minute mark, add in the ginger and the onions. 5) At the 2 hr mark, add in the onion leeks. 6) Occasionally taste the broth and adjust depending on your preference. Use salt and pepper.
7) After 4 hours, add in the cabbage, pechay and corn. Cover and wait for 10 minutes.
For Filipinos it’s SOPAS but for everyone else, it’s Chicken Macaroni Soup. Close but not close enough. 🙂
Creamy Milky Sopas
GAME!
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients: 1/4 kilo chicken (thigh part)
1-2 pcs hard boiled egg
butter, carrots, garlic
The quantity really depends on you
Spaghetti Noodles
Yes. Spaghetti. Why? Because the spaghetti absorbs less liquid as compared to the regular elbow macaroni.
Evaporated Milk Fish Sauce, Salt and Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
Steps:
1) Boil 1/2 kilo of chicken (and you can also add the egg to save time) for about 2-3 minutes. Add a 1/2 tsp of salt.
Boiled Chicken and Boiled Egg
2) Strain the chicken and set aside the broth. Use a fork and a knife to shred the chicken meat.
Chicken Broth
3) In a heated pot, saute the garlic in butter until slightly golden (TIP: mixing a small amount of regular oil in butter will prevent it from burning easily).
4) Add in the shredded chicken and continue sauteing until the chicken is cooked or golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.
5) Add in the spaghetti (cut into smaller, 1 inch pieces). Stir fry for about 1 minute.
Stir fry the noodles, chicken meat and garlic on butter
6) Add the chicken broth plus 1-2 more cups of water and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for about 5-8 minutes (or until the noodle is cooked) under low heat. For added flavor, use fish sauce (to taste) or just buy a chicken broth cube.
Tip: Bite the noodle and see if the middle is still white. If it’s not, then your spaghetti is cooked
7) Add in the carrots, eggs and milk and wait for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and let it stay covered for another minute.
8) Serve while hot and go crazy!
Growing up in the Philippines, it’s almost if not 100% certain that every household have had a taste of chicken Tinola. It’s almost as staple as the chicken Adobo. I’ve had countless Tinolas in my 24-year existence and I believe that as a Filipino, everyone should know how to prepare and cook this dish.
It’s really very simple. I’ll start with basic instructions and provide details later, just to emphasize the simplicity of the dish. GAME!
Cooking Time:
About 15-20 minutes Ingredients:
Chicken – 1/4 kilo or 3-4 pieces depending on the size
Ginger – 1 (small)
Sili Leaves – 1 full cup
Papaya – 1 (small) cut into strips
Sotanghon – 1 (small)
Oil – 3 Tbsp
Iodized Salt – 1 tsp
Black Pepper – 1 tsp
Fish Sauce – (to taste)
Water – 4 cups
Steps:
1) Fry the chicken until it the color changes from pink to slightly golden. Season with salt and black pepper. (3-5 minutes)
2) Add the ginger and continue frying. Occasionally mix to cook evenly. Do this until the chicken is golden brown. (5-8 minutes)
3) Add water and let it Boil. (3-5 minutes)
4) Put in the Sotanghon and cover. (1 minute)
5) Use fish sauce to add flavor until satisfied. (10 seconds)
6) Add the Papaya and cover it again. (1 minute)
7) Turn off the stove and put in the Sili Leaves. Cover it again. (30-45 seconds)
8) Serve!
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And now the detailed version. Enjoy! 🙂
Ingredients:
Chicken – there is no rule on which part to choose. I’ve seen versions of Tinola with chicken intestines, heart and sometimes even the blood. Personally I prefer the breast and legs mainly because they’re easier to eat.
Tip: Cut the meat into smaller pieces to shorten the cooking time
Ginger – for me, ginger is the heart of Tinola. The quantity will depend on your preference. For me I like to add more ginger in Tinola because it tastes better. The broth becomes richer and soothing.
Aside from the flavor, it also eliminates odor
Sili Leaves – if ginger is the heart, Sili Leaves are the soul. The quantity will also depend on your preference. As a personal rule of thumb, the amount of Sili Leaves that I use is directly proportional to the amount of Ginger.
Tip: Malunggay Leaves can be used as proxy to Sili Leaves
Papaya – I prefer and highly suggest “an almost ripe” papaya. Again, not a ripe papaya but “an almost ripe” papaya. How’d you know the difference? If the color is yellow-green-ish and the fruit is still hard. Traditionally, Filipinos use the green papaya and that’s fine. But I tell you, combining the sweetness of the “almost ripe” papaya with the ginger and sili leaves, it’s unlike anything you’ve tasted before.
Tip: Start by cutting the part with the stalkTip: Turn the papaya and start peeling downwards
Sotanghon – this is just an extender. A Tinola can make do without this.
Iodized Salt, Oil, Fish Sauce, Black Pepper – All to taste
Water – you may want to add an extra half cup if you’ll add sotanghon
Steps:
1) Pre-heat the pan (medium heat) and add 3 tbsp of oil. When the oil gets hot, add in the chicken and season with salt & black pepper. Occasionally turn the chicken until it turns slightly golden.
See the color difference?
2) Add the ginger and continue frying. Mix the ingredients to evenly cook the meat.
fry fry fry the butterfry
3) Add 3-4 cups of water and bring to a boil (adjust to high heat). Put a cover.
4) Add in the sotanghon and cover again. Let it continue to boil for about 1 minute. Use fish sauce to add flavor depending on your desired output.
using chicken broth cubes instead of fish sauce is also an option
5) Add in the papaya and cover. Make sure they are submerged in the broth. Wait for about 1 to 2 minutes depending on how cooked you want the papaya to be. Some people like the fruit to be crunchy (thus the shorter time) while some like their papayas soft (thus the longer time).
6) Turn the heat off and add the sili leaves and then cover. Wait for about 30-45 seconds.
Tip: the heat/steam of the food is enough to cook the sili leaves
2) Boil the carabao (or beef) meat for about 4 hours. Season with salt. Please keep in mind that the the time may vary depending on how you want it done. Just note that boiling it longer will give you 2 things: a more tender meat and a tastier,jucier broth.
paulito's kitchen 