Chicken Tinola from Philippines

An easy one pot dish that leaves your mouth feeling fresh, Chicken Tinola is a classic Filipino dish.  This is my take on the dish as some of the traditional Filipino ingredients aren't easily obtainable so I've substituted them with similar.  The traditional recipe uses papaya.  This is enough to feed 2 people and you have have it with rice or without.

2 chicken breast fillets
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 chili finely chopped
1/2 cup sherry
1 onion thinly sliced
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger cut into thin sticks
6 kale or spinach leaves
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cups water
1 mango cubed
2 tablespoons oil
Put the oil in a pot, add the onions, garlic, chili and ginger and cook until the onion gets translucent.  Add in the chicken breasts cut into cubes and cook them until a little browned.  Pour in the soy sauce and sherry along with the water.  Let it cook until about half of the liquid is reduced.  Add in the chopped kale leaves and mango cubes and let it simmer until the kale leaves are soft.  Serve in a bowl as a delicious chicken stew.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living in Ukraine.  She's the author of Hush Baby, Not Telling, Defective, The Case of Billy B and C U @ 8.  All her books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and print formats.

Pork Menudo from Philippines

There are stews and there are stews but this pork stew has to be one of the best.  For those who don't eat pork you can substitute the pork with chicken if you wish.  The traditional way of cooking this dish is to have half pork/half liver.  Many people don't cook liver or much like the taste of it, so I have cooked this menudo without liver.  Don't confuse this dish with Mexican menudo as it's very different.  Mexican menudo is a sort of a soup cooked with tripe.  This is nothing like that.  No offal in this version at all.  Although this dish tastes divinely exotic, it is extremely simple to make.  I gather it is a staple in the Philippines.  You can serve it with rice or bread.  I chose to have it with rice.

2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fruit chutney
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons raisins
500g pork cut into cubes
1 large onion sliced
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 potatoes cut into cubes
1 carrot diced

1 large handful frozen peas
half a cup water
salt and pepper to taste
Coat the bottom of the pot with olive oil and add the onion and garlic.  Fry until it becomes soft.  Add the pork, carrot and potato cubes.  Brown the meat a little.  Add the water and the rest of the ingredients.  Mix together, bring to the boil then allow to simmer until the potatoes are soft.  Serve with steamed rice.

Cindy Vine is a South African currently living in Ukraine and is the author of Not Telling, The Case of Billy B, Defective and Hush Baby.  All her books are available on Amazon is both kindle and print format.