Tinola in Bamboo. If we went further, this could have been a Binakol na Manok in Bamboo as well. Take half a “section of fresh bamboo, with a diameter of 4-5 inches and with one end sawn off. Add some chicken, water or broth, lemongrass, onions, peppercorns if desired and put this over a charcoal fire…
We took a shortcut and covered the open end with aluminum foil and some abaca twine, but you could also bunch up several banana leaves and seal off the top. Bring the soup to a boil (15 minutes or so) and let it go another 5-10 minutes until you have a flavorful broth. Salt to your taste. Ideally, you would have added some ginger (we didn’t have any in the office kitchen), even some patis or fish sauce.
We then added some sliced under ripe papaya (it was riper than we would have liked), and at the last minute some malunggay leaves (chili leaves also a good choice) and voila!
A wonderful, fragrant and incredibly satisfying tinola cooked in bamboo. The broth was a bit weak, and I would have used a previously made from scrratch broth to intensify the flavors, but this was still quite good. Simple food.
If you wanted to make a binakol, just add coconut water and young coconut meat and it would have the sweeter flavors infused with the soup. Again, little clean-up, and such incredible novelty in this day and age of the most modern of kitchen equipment. I am gaining confidence that I could survive food wise if I for some bizarre reason found myself lost in the middle of a forest… The crew at the office were joking that if I were ever abducted by rebels and fleeing through dense jungle, the rebels wouldn’t ever release me because after dealing with my initial barrage of complaints and demands, they would be thrilled with the improvements to their food. Hahaha.
18 Responses
“The crew at the office were joking that if I were ever abducted by rebels and fleeing through dense jungle, the rebels wouldn’t ever release me because after dealing with my initial barrage of complaints and demands, they would be thrilled with the improvements to their food”…….. Hahahaha indeed!!! They might even kidnapped you for that very reason!
A refreshing soup…having it outside or in a beach will be the best. MM there is a typo binakol na maok should be manok?
Junb, thanks, corrected that error. :)
isnt tinola supposed to be sauted? healthier option i suppose!
Yum-yum-yum! I miss this kind of food here in Canada! Very authentic!
How very resourceful! Back to basics at it’s finest. My contribution would be things my hawks hunt… Rabbit stew anyone?
Tinola is my daughter and mine all time favorite !!!
Hi MM,
We always laugh about being kidnapped by someone, especially if the victim is on the healthy side. We experienced this for real a few months ago when a relative was kidnapped by some rebels, he was healthy and for the 6 or so weeks he was held, he was fed instant noodle soup, rice, cassava. He was released unharmed but suffice to say, he lost a third of his weight (which he has since regained)…
mm, binakol with coconut water and young coconut meat is the ilongo version (i think). the aklan version is just like your tinola in bamboo tube except there’s less broth. two cups of water is max for a cut-up native dumalaga in 4-5 inch diameter bamboo. lots of chopped onions and ginger. plug the open end with a clump of lemon grass. Proceed to cook it ala marketman. And that’s it.
btw, there’s a commercial purveyor of aklan binakol in banga, the town after kalibo on the way to iloilo. tastes almost like the real thing. he cooks his chicken pieces in ordinary kaldero over wood fire. to get that whiff of “bamboo” taste and aroma he places newly split fresh bamboo laths into the batch he is cooking and fishes out the the pieces before serving.
the taste is a notch lower than the “real” binakol, possibly because the latter has to cook ever so slooow because of the danger of the bamboo tube charring/burning if it is placed too close to the embers.
the shortcut would offend a traditionalist. but the last time i passed by his place, he was doing brisk business. who could argue with “success?”
That’s hilarious – if I ever kidnapped you, I would also make sure that the ransom was high enough that no one would pay it so I could get you to cook food like this for me.
My mom used to cook chicken binakol this way. Chicken binakol in central areas of Panay is different from that of what we know of here in Manila i.e. with coconut meat. My mom uses a kind of leaf, I just don’t know what it was… but it made the soup a little sour.
Cooking that chicken binakol inside a bamboo was just amazingly delicious.
You definitely could win “Survivor”!
i agree with jen, its very authentic :)
by this time, the crew must have stopped wondering at all your crazy experiements and taste tests, MM, no? because look where all that pricking of the pigskin has got them!
padayon mong tanan!
For all we know you might be some covert jungle warfare specialist.
sarap naman ng tinola lalo na ngayong tag-ulan.
The bamboo? Is it one-off use, MM? I’m actually trying to use things like this but using a lot bamboos for business would have made me felt guilty at the end. I’m a trying-hard-chef cum trying-hard-to-be businessman that put people’s well-being/environment first. Dili ako bisaya so i have never come across Binakol in my life. Being here in the Netherlands opened a lot of doors for me to venture or try things that i would not normally do back in RP. With all modesty, i put myself up on a pedestal when it comes to preparing soup. I always like the creamy ones and somehow i called myself the guy-with-a-carton-of-milk. I make no use of single or double cream (coz i don’t know yet how to make one) but plain full milk alone. Seeing, your own binakol soup makes me feel learned by a guru. Now i have something to experiment with and would try to put non-creamy soup, fresh and light to my top 10 list of my favorites.
Again, thanks a lot and ive just been here for about half an hour and i reckon i would be having a late night readin most of your post. But well, perhaps i have to take it easy. Your posts are addictive.
Utoy, yes, bamboo is single use. Seems wasteful, but bamboo grows abundantly in many parts of the country and is one of the most ecologically replenishable materials. Also a single pole will provide several segments for cooking. It is completely biodegradable and there are no carbon emissions in its manufacture, transport, etc…
Yes, try some light soups. Personally, I am not much of a creamy soup person, but I do occasionally enjoy a bisque, cream of squash, leek and potato and other soups with cream.