What to expect
A clear ginger broth, drumsticks browned first, green papaya picked young, and a fistful of greens dropped in at the very end. Fhred walks Liem through the one ingredient tinola can't skip - ginger - while the story keeps widening: how the dish landed in Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere, why it's pre-colonial, and why a soup built to break a fever is supposed to make you sweat.
Liem fighting the green papaya sap, scoring chillies instead of slicing them, and the running argument over how much ginger is too much ginger. Spoiler: there is no too much ginger.
From the kitchen
The making of tinola
The recipe
Tinola
Yield: 4-6 portions · Difficulty: Easy
A clear ginger broth with chicken and greens. Light, warming, and built to make you sweat - the Filipino soup you reach for when someone's under the weather.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg chicken, cut into pieces
- 80 g ginger, sliced
- 150 g onion, sliced
- 40 g garlic, minced
- 120 g spinach
- 1.5 L chicken stock
- 30 ml vegetable oil
- 8 g salt
- 5 g black pepper
Procedure
- Heat oil in a pot.
- Cook garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant.
- Add chicken and saute lightly.
- Pour in chicken stock.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30-35 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add spinach and cook for 1 minute.
- Serve hot with rice.
Chef's notes
- Ginger is the key flavour of tinola.
- Bone-in chicken gives the best flavour.
