Tinolang Manok (Chicken with Papaya and Ginger)

Tinolang manok is a common Filipino dish that can be found in a lot of different islands of the Philippines. It is a soup mad up of chicken, green (unripe) papaya, pepper leaves, and ginger. Green or unripe papaya are available at most of the Asian markets. If green papaya is not available, you can substitute it with chayote which is readily available at the regular supermarket. You can also substiture pepper leaves with malunggay leaves. Both are usually available at the Filipino market in the freezer section. You can just thaw them out and add to the dish or do like I do, add it frozen while cooking the soup and let the heat thaw it out.

This is another dish that is appropriate for fall or winter because it will help warm you up. It is also healthy and nutritious as well as delicious. Filipinos usually eat this warm with piping hot bowl of rice...yummy...Leftovers, if any, can be stored in the refrigerator and heated on the stove or microwave.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 lbs chicken, cut into serving pieces
1 small unripe (green) papaya or 2 chayote, peeled and seeded then sliced.
2 inch ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 package frozen pepper leaves
3 Thai chillies, whole
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp fish sauce
oil

1. Heat pan over medium heat then add oil.
2. Add ginger, garlic, and onion. Saute until translucent and fragrant
3. Add chicken and saute until brown.
4. Add enough water to cover the chicken then simmer until chicken is tender.
5. Add papaya slices and continue to cook until tender.
6. Add Thai chili and frozen pepper leaves and simmer until thawed or 2-3 minutes if already thawed.
7. Season with fish sauce, salt, and pepper then remove from heat.
8. Transfer to a serving dish and serve warm.

Salabat (Ginger Tea)

Salabat or ginger tea is not really a tea as it does not contain any tea leaves in it. Instead, it is a warm ginger drink made from boiling ginger root and brown sugar so the flavor is infused into the boiling water. This is the Filipinos' go-to drink for cough, colds, flu, sore throat, or congestion. It is also believed by Filipino that it can help improve one's siging voice or preserve a singer's singing voice. Whatever the case may be, I just like it because it is soothing and warm. The drink has a little it of a kick due to the peppery and spicy taste of the ginger. This is commonly served during the cold season which, in the Philippines, is around December. It is also a popular drink among those who goes to simbang gabi (early morning mass) during the christmas season.


My earliest recollection of this drink was that it was served during my grandfather's (my mom's uncle) wake. I think I was around 8 years old at that time and children don't normally like this drink because of its taste but I remember really liking it. Hmmm, I guess my taste was a little advance for my age...hehehe. It can sometimes be very strong but you can just add a little bit of water to water it down and dilute it a little bit. Brown sugar is normally the sweetener of choice but I guess you can substitute it with honey.


Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ginger, sliced
5 cups water
brown sugar, according to desired sweetness

1. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar.
2. Boil for about 8 minutes then strain to remove ginger pieces.
3. Serve warm.

NOTE: If the flavor is too strong, you can add more water to dilute to desired strength.

recipe was adapted from The Philippine Cookbook

Grilled Squid Stuffed with Lemon Grass and Ginger

I had a dish similar to this when I went home to the Philippines in July. It was fro a very famous resto in Bacolod, the place where I am from. They stuffed their squid with tanglad (lemon grass) and ginger then it was grilled. If I remember correctly, they basted it with annatto-infused oil, which is commonly used in pork and chicken barbeque. This dish can either be grilled on a gas grill or stovetop grill. I used the later since I was not about to step outside in the heat and deal with more heat...lol...at least if I do it inside the house, I can just turn on the exhaust and have to air-conditioner running to counteract the heat coming from the stove :)Be careful when using a stovetop griller as it could oil from the basting medium to splatter. The lemmon grass gives the dish a nice aroma and flavor. You can eat this "as is" or you can dip it in soy sauce-kalamansi (philippine lemon) mixture or spiced vinegar. I do not like dipping it in anything but I like to eat with rice and a side of Atchara (Pickled papaya)...yum!



Ingredients:

squid, cleaned with tentacles removed and discarded (or you can save it for another dish)
Lemon grass (enough to stuff all your squids, bruised
Ginger (use enough to stuff squid), sliced thinly
sea salt and freschly ground pepper, to taste
bamoo skewers, soaked in water for about 15 minutes

Basting medium:

1/2 cup oil
1-2 tsp annatto extract (or if using powder, use about 1 tsp)

1. Heat sauce pan to medium and add oil with annatto extract.
2. Mix well. Heat until annatto is well incorporated into the oil.
3. Take one squid and stuff with lemon grass and ginger. Do this until all squid has been stuffed.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the squids.
5. Skewer squid using bamboo skewers.
6. Turn on the grill and grill squids. After 3-4 minutes, turn squid over and baste with prepared basting medium.
7. When the other side is half way cooked, turn it over and baste that side also.
8. Continue to grill squids until cooked.
9. Remove from heat and transfer to serving platter.
NOTE: You are only supposed to eat the squid and discard the lemon grass and ginger