Hey, you! đ
I love love love the Filipino soup, Chicken Tinola. The combination of ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and chicken comforts me in memories of my childhood and more. This was also the first food craving I had when I was pregnant. At the time I didn't know that I was pregnant, but unconsciously I was eating Chicken Tinola .... and Bam-I every day!
Anyways ...
One day, I thought to myself how would this dish turn out if I kept all the flavours I loved minus the soup part. Well, it turned out even better than I had imagined!! The chicken releases its own juices to perfectly complement the ginger-garlic-lemongrass-fish sauce. I find that this is even more tasty than Chicken Tinola as the water does not dilute it - it's even more concentrated!
Ginger and Lemongrass Chicken
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion
6 garlic cloves
1 ginger, thumb-size
3 stalks of lemongrass
a handful of green onions, sliced
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce, optional
water
salt (optional)
black pepper
Directions:
Prepare your ingredients.
Wash and cut off the ends of the lemongrass. Remove the outer layer, cut in thirds, and lightly smash with the back of the knife.
Peel the ginger, then slice, and smash.
Peel and dice the garlic.
Peel and slice the onion.
Cut the chicken into pieces.
In a cooking pan or a wok, heat the coconut oil on medium-high heat.
When the oil is hot, add onion, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
Add the chicken. Stir and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the fish sauce. Stir, cover, lower to medium heat and cook for 20 minutes.
Add water. Season with black pepper and soy sauce.
Stir and let it simmer for at least 15 minutes.
Season with salt if desired.
Check that the chicken is fully-cooked. If needed, continue to simmer.
If the chicken is cooked, add a handful of sliced green onions.
Continue to simmer uncovered for 3-5 minutes.
Serve hot with rice and enjoy! đ