Tinola (Filipino Ginger Chicken Soup with Green Papaya)
Bone-in chicken browned with onion, lots of ginger and garlic, seasoned with fish sauce and simmered in water until tender, then finished with wedges of green papaya and a bunch of spinach (or chili leaves or malunggay), served hot with steamed rice.
Tinola is the Philippines' everyday chicken soup, usually served as a main course with white rice. Wikipedia describes the classic as chicken (or fish) with green papaya or chayote and the leaves of the siling labuyo chili, in a broth flavored with ginger, onions and fish sauce; malunggay (moringa) leaves, pechay, spinach or mustard greens can stand in for the chili leaves. Its fame is literary. José Rizal put it in his first novel, Noli Me Tangere: Kapitan Tiago serves tinola to Crisóstomo Ibarra when he comes home from Europe, Ibarra gets the liver and gizzard, and the corrupt friar Padre Dámaso is left with the neck and a wing, the least favored parts.
This recipe is Lalaine Manalo's, from Kawaling Pinoy. She writes that in her family's kitchen every edible part of the bird went into the pot, and the one liver went to the most precious child of the house. She uses spinach because it is easy to find in the United States and notes that malunggay or chili leaves are more traditional.
Why it works the kitchen science
Ginger cooked first
Softening a lot of sliced ginger in oil with the onion and garlic before the chicken goes in gives the broth its clean, warming heat instead of a raw bite.
Fish sauce on the chicken, not just the broth
A minute or two of cooking the chicken in fish sauce seasons the meat itself and deepens the broth with savory flavor.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the chicken and cook, stirring now and then, 5 to 7 minutes, until it loses its raw color on the outside.
- Step 3
Add the fish sauce and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, so the chicken takes on its flavor.
- Step 4
Pour in the water and bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off the scum that floats up. Lower the heat, cover and simmer 30 to 35 minutes, until the thickest pieces read 165°F.
- Step 5
Add the papaya and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still a little crisp. Season with salt and pepper.
- Step 6
Push the spinach down into the broth and cook just until wilted, under a minute. Serve hot with steamed rice and a little fish sauce on the side.
Tinola (Filipino Ginger Chicken Soup with Green Papaya)
Serves 4 · about 8 cups · 1 hr 5 min total
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 thumb-size pieces fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 whole chicken (3 to 4 lb), cut into serving pieces
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 5 cups water
- 1 small green papaya, pared, seeded and cut into 2-inch wedges (or 2 chayotes)
- 1 bunch fresh spinach, stems trimmed (or a few handfuls of chili leaves or malunggay leaves)
- Salt and pepper
- Steamed white rice and extra fish sauce, to serve
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken and cook, stirring now and then, 5 to 7 minutes, until it loses its raw color on the outside.
- Add the fish sauce and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, so the chicken takes on its flavor.
- Pour in the water and bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off the scum that floats up. Lower the heat, cover and simmer 30 to 35 minutes, until the thickest pieces read 165°F.
- Add the papaya and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still a little crisp. Season with salt and pepper.
- Push the spinach down into the broth and cook just until wilted, under a minute. Serve hot with steamed rice and a little fish sauce on the side.
Adapted from Lalaine Manalo, "Tinolang Manok (Chicken Tinola)", Kawaling Pinoy (posted March 21, 2013; updated July 12, 2020), serves 4. We follow it as written: 1 tbsp oil, a small onion, 3 garlic cloves and 2 thumb-size pieces of ginger softened over medium heat; a 3 to 4-lb chicken in serving pieces cooked 5 to 7 minutes; 2 tbsp fish sauce for 1 to 2 minutes; 5 cups water brought to a boil and skimmed, then covered and simmered 30 to 35 minutes; a small green papaya for 3 to 5 minutes; a bunch of spinach wilted at the end. The 165°F check is ours. Kawaling Pinoy. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Cut the chicken into pieces of the same size so they cook evenly, Manalo says; bone-in parts make the best broth.
- Chayote, potatoes or upo (bottle gourd) can replace the green papaya.
- Skim the scum as the water comes to a boil for a clear broth.
- Manalo keeps leftovers 3 days in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer and reheats them to 165°F.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Real tinola has chili leaves. Disputed: Wikipedia lists siling labuyo leaves in the traditional version; malunggay, pechay, kangkong, spinach and mustard greens are all named substitutes, and Manalo uses spinach.
- Green papaya, not chayote. Disputed: Wikipedia and Manalo both give either.
- Tinola is in Noli Me Tangere. Documented as Wikipedia's account: the scene at Kapitan Tiago's table.
- The neck goes to the least important guest. Folklore: it comes from the novel's scene with Padre Dámaso; Manalo's family story is about the liver.
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