It’s no secret that I love soup. My favourite soups have a rich, thick broth – the more of it the better – and tinola fits this bill perfectly. It’s built from a rich bone broth then layered with spicy ginger and a sweet chayote squash. It’s simple but filling when poured over rice. It’s a long-simmering dish that reminds me of mom slowly building this dish for dinners. There isn’t anything particularly difficult about this dish, but the longer cook time makes for a flavourful end result.

There are a lot of different recipes on the Internet for tinola. It’s a warming, comforting food that is cooked in one pot. There are a lot of variations and more “traditional” versions of this dish. I’m sharing the variation that I grew up eating and making notations for how we’ve altered it to meet some of our allergy requirements. Growing up, mom always used a whole chicken, bones, organs, and all so that no part of the chicken was wasted. Every member of the family has a favourite part of dish, and I remember sitting at the table waiting for mom to add some of the soup and to find my favourite parts. Personally, I liked the broth and ginger best. I also remember mom always roasting a jalapeno and mashing it together with some patis to dip the chicken and vegetables into. As an adult, I don’t tend to make this dish in large quantities, so I’ve adapted how mom makes her recipe into something that I can make in smaller batches but still retains that rich flavour.

There are only a couple of veggies that go into making this dish. I’m using bok choy, chayote squash, onion, and ginger.

I like to dice the onions fairly small, but that is really up to you.

We like larger, thin slices of ginger in our soup since the goal is to get a lot the surface area exposed. I also don’t peel the ginger skin because I like the flavour, but if you don’t, feel free to peel the skin away.

Ginger and onion ready to go. I do this while the chicken and water are coming to a boil.

I have removed all the foam from the chicken stock and the liquid is pretty clear. I like to add the slices of ginger first because it gives the onion something to land on. If I don’t I get splashed and that’s not fun.

Onions going in. This step is one of my favourites because I know the house will start to smell amazing.

I like to prep the rest of the vegetables right after I put in the aromatics so that it’s done. The baby bok choy we had was pretty large, so I cut the stem end into eighths after I separated the leaves. Sometimes you only have to quarter them, but we like smaller, bite sized pieces.

Chayote squash is a really lovely colour and I like these to be fairly small chunks. We like a fair bit of it in our soup.

I couldn’t resist - I think this vegetable is so pretty when it’s all peeled and cubed.

About 20 minutes before we’re ready to eat, I add in the chayote and bok choy stems. The broth is getting nice and thick and rich. Since the stems and squash are so small, they only take about 20 minutes to cook. If you chop them into larger pieces, it may take longer.

I have always used my wooden spoon to measure how much patis to add, and even though we’re using vegetarian fish sauce instead, the habit is still in place. This is the point at which I’m tasting and adjusting the flavour. I like to do this before I add the bok choy leaves.

Adding the leaves! I think this part is fun because it always looks like so much and the leaves turn colours quickly. Once these are in, it usually only takes a minute or two before it’s ready to eat.

Enjoy!

Tinola – Serves 2-4

500-600 grams bone-in, skin-on chicken – we usually use thigh meat because that is what we tend to have on hand, but chicken quarters or drumsticks are just as good. You are also welcome to use chicken breast if you’d prefer.
2000 milliliters water, plus more if necessary – the goal is to cover all the chicken pieces and give them some room to move around
1 large onion, diced
2-4 inches of fresh ginger, thinly sliced – many recipes call for less, but Becky really likes the ginger flavour and the long cook time mellows the sharpness into something sweeter
3-4 medium sized chayote squash, peeled, cored, and cubed – This particular ingredient is readily available to us. I’ve also seen people use green papaya or potato.
4-6 bundles baby bok choy, chopped and leaves separated from stem – We tend to use a kind of baby bok choy that is readily available in our area as opposed to fully matured bok choy people are more familiar with. If all you have access to is the mature bok choy, then half a medium head or a small head will be approximately the same amount. I’ve also seen people use spinach or other easily accessible greens. I’ve also omitted this vegetable entirely if I didn’t have any on hand. This is very much up to you.
Patis, to taste – This ingredient is also known as fish sauce. Whatever kind you like is totally fine. There are also vegetarian fish sauces on the market, which are very similar to a light soy sauce. We use a gluten-free vegetarian fish sauce in this dish since we need to account for both a shellfish and gluten allergy.
Salt – I use this when I begin the stock base and occasionally to supplement the patis at the end.
Pepper – to taste

Rinse the chicken in cool water. Place in a heavy bottomed pot and cover with water. Add about a half-tablespoon of salt if you’d like. Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat and scoop away any of the foam that floats to the top and discard. When the stock is clear, add the diced onion and ginger to the pot. Cover and simmer on low heat for at least half an hour. This dish can benefit from a long, slow cook time, so I’ll often let this portion simmer as long as possible and only begin the next step about 20 minutes before we’re ready to eat.

Add the chayote squash and the stems from the baby bok choy. Continue to simmer until they are soft and then add the leafy parts of the bok choy. Once they are wilted add patis, salt, and pepper to taste.

Pour over rice and enjoy.