Being on a diet and wanting to eat Filipino food seems like a tough proposition considering how much pork, fat and sugar is in many of our dishes. However, when you think about it, there are a lot of dishes 
that meet the Marketman criterion for more protein and vegetables, liquid in the form of soup to fill the tummy up and minimal carbohydrates. Sinampalukang Manok is one of my favorite dishes while dieting and I have a hankering for pinoy food. It is very easy and relatively quick to make, tastes terrific and if served with just one small scoop of brown rice, makes a terrific “diet†meal that others in the family who aren’t on a diet also enjoy…
To make, heat up a heavy pot and add just a little vegetable oil. Saute some onions and ginger and the chicken pieces until slightly browned. Add a touch of patis (fish sauce) then 
rice washing (water clouded with rice starch), sampaloc broth made from scratch or instant sinigang powder, a half or whole chicken cube for more intense flavor, and patis to taste. Add the vegetables: sitaw or yard long beans, sliced eggplants, talbos ng ampalaya (bitter gourd tendrils), and siling pangsigang or mahaba if you want to add some zing (it will only get spicy if you cut up the chilli). You can also use kangkong if you like. When all the veggies are cooked the soup is ready to serve. It always hits the spot. Just remember, if you are cutting back on carbs, just have one scoop of brown rice with the soup and load up on the veggies!
23 Responses
Ay, na-miss ko tuloy yung sinampalukang manok na niluluto ng mommy ko…especially the ones cooked using young sampaloc leaves and native chicken.
Makauwi nga ng Bulacan sa weekend…
Hmm…will try sinampalukang manok one of these days. Didn’t know that its similar to sinigang.
Btw Marketman, I saw some mangosteen at Powerplant last weekend. They were very small & costs P600/kilo. What do you think, is it worth it?
math, Whoa! WAY OVERPRICED! I was just in Cebu and bought it at PHP250-275 a kilo. In the Salcedo market, I think it was PHP300 a kilo. Unless it is precious and incredibly sweet Bangkok sourced mangosteen, I think that price is absurdly high!
The Rockwell fruit stall in front of Milky Way has high quality, all imported fruit, with prices to match. So i’m guessing the mangosteen in question is imported na nga.
I like sinampalukang manok but i think i prefer a well-made tinola. More comforting, esp with the requisite red chilli-patis-calamansi dip.
I craved for Sinampalukang Manok when I was pregnant with my baby. My husband thought I was weird when I ate it every single day for about a month or so. I especially love it with sampaloc leaves in the broth. :)
math, I just passed by the Dizon farms stand in Fort Bonifacio and their mangosteen are only PHP250 a kilo. I agree the rockwell fruit stand has some good stuff but a lot of the same fruit is inside Rustan’s for 10-20% less… it’s much cheaper still elsewhere.
Which of them sell sweet mangosteens? I’m scared to buy because I bought some 3 years ago and they were sour! Never bought again.
My lola makes a good sinampalukang manok. She uses the young leaves (usbong) of the tamarind. I should try the recipe you posted and do a comparison, with my dad as guinea pig. Heehee.
It is one of our greatest culinary concoction especially during rainy season. It warms up the palate. One of the souring agents that we use is green sinuguelas (young one) when they are in season. The tartness it gives out marries well with the chicken and gives the broth milky look. Chili leaves work well on this one too and the addition of the variety vegetables that we like, real comfort food.
Maria Clara, the young sineguelas sounds terrific. I really want to try that…and add it to the list of sinigangs that I am trying to build! The soup with the young tamarind leaves is excellent. The leaves have a far milder flavor. Personally, I like the shocking sour flavors of the unripe tamarind fruit, but sometimes the subtlety of the leaves is also appreciated… we have a tamarind tree behind the house in Batangas and at this time of the year it has tons of new leaves… corrine, I haven’t found a consistently good supplier of mangosteen either. When in doubt, I actually buy one mangosteen first, taste it on the spot and if it is sour I don’t get any more… vendors always look at me somewhat nastily when I do this but hey, it’s my money…
Ay naku, nangasim tuloy ako. And the mention of sineguelas even made it worst!
I also like my sinampalukan manok cooked with young tamarind leaves.
Many thanks for the tip Marketman! Will try the mangosteen at Salcedo Vill or the Fort. :-)
Tried the sinampalukan recipe last night! It was terrific, even without the sampaloc leaves and the ampalaya tendrils. I also used chicken broth instead of the bouillion cube since I had none and the rice washing was gone by the time I cooked dinner! I ended up with a very dark and rich broth, perfect for the rainy weather here. Yum! Thanks for the diet tips (trying to diet along with you.)
wow. . . adding young sampalok leaves to this will also be good. . .
you can also add the sampalok flowers w/c is no longger available in the market.
Where I come from–Malolos, Bulacan–we use the flowers and young leaves (bulaklak and usbong) of sampaloc for Sinampalukang Manok. Not as sour as the unripe fruit (which we prefer for pork or beef sinigang) but perfect for the chicken.
I Love this!!!! more diet foods please…..
ay tlagang masarap!masarap lalu pag may sampalok flower kya lang madalang nlang ako mkakita nun.Gusto ko yung medyo katamtama yung asim.Tlagang perfect yung chicken.
Glad I found this recipe! Tried it and my family loved it! I thought sampalok flowers and leaves lang puede magsinampalukan manok so pede rin pala ang instant tamarind powder! I’m in NJ so mahirap magahanap ng mga authentic pinoy ingredients! Thanks for sharing your recipe…
the 1st thing that comes in mind the 1st time i saw the sinampalukang manok,was i should try it bcoz it really looks delicious.. hmnnnnnnn..
hi its saturday here at walang kaming work at halos lahat ng kasambahay ay narito sa bahay, back to pinas pag weekeend masarap maghain ng sabaw either nilagang baka or sinigang na baboy. but since bawal ang pork dito sa ME, i tried using manok and iba talaga ang lasa. plus like what yo have said, pede sa mga diet conscious na tulad ko. actually matagal ko ng gustong magsinampalukang manok, buti na lang i checked online kung pano, though i did cooked once me sablay nga lang kc gusto ko me dahon dahon at real tamarind fruit nakalimutan kong ilagay sa cheese cloth ung leaves at flowers di ko na makita ung manok (lol). thanks!
iba talaga ang PINOYS at PINAY sa pagluluto!
sinampalukang manok’s a favorite of our family. though we use kangkong instead of string beans, eggplants, and talbos ng ampalaya. yum!
after cleaning the chicken wings,i saute into garlic,onion,ginger and black pepper and simmer for 3minutes. Add 3 cups of water and wait until the water boiled then put the tamarind “young leaves”boiled one time and lastly add some tamarind base soup just to taste a little more sour.