Tinola is a Filipino

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

usually served as a

main course A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée () course. Usage In the United States and Canada (except Quebec), the main course is traditionally called an "entrée". En ...

with white rice. Traditionally, the dish is cooked with chicken or fish, wedges of

papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae, and also the name of its fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within ...

and/or chayote, and leaves of the siling labuyo

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

in broth flavored with

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s, and

fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, L ...

Variants

Variants of the dish substitute chicken with

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

, or

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

. Chayote or calabash (''upo'') also may be substituted for green papaya. In addition to pepper leaves, other leafy vegetables may be used including pechay,

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...

moringa Moringa may refer to: * ''Moringa'' (genus), a genus of plants * ''Moringa oleifera ''Moringa oleifera'' is a short-lived, fast-growing, drought-resistant tree of the family Moringaceae, native to northern India and used extensively in South ...

leaves, and mustard greens among others. Additional ingredients like potatoes and tomatoes may be added.

Cultural significance

One of the earliest mentions of the dish is in

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, '' Noli Me Tangere'', where Kapitan Tiago served it to Crisostomo Ibarra after arriving from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. He was given the chicken liver and

gizzard The gizzard, also referred to as the ventriculus, gastric mill, and gigerium, is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including archosaurs (birds and other dinosaurs, crocodiles, alligators, pterosaurs), earthworms, some gast ...

meanwhile, to the dismay of the corrupt Spanish friar, Padre Damaso, who received chicken neck and wing, considered to be the least favored chicken parts.

Similar dishes

''Tinola'' is very similar to '' binakol'' and '' ginataang manok'', but different in that the latter two use

coconut water Coconut water (also coconut juice) is the clear liquid inside young coconuts (fruits of the coconut palm). In early development, it serves as a suspension for the endosperm of the coconut during the nuclear phase of development. As developm ...

and

coconut milk Coconut milk is a plant milk extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of the milky-white liquid are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingred ...

, respectively. A related dish is '' lauya'' made by the

Ilocano people The Ilocano people (), also referred to as Ilokáno, Iloko, Iloco, Iluku, or Samtoy, are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnolinguistic group native to the Philippines. Originally from the Ilocos Region, located on the northwestern coa ...

. However, ''lauya'' is partial to using pork or beef knuckles. A similar soup dish is known as '' sinabawang gulay'' (literally "vegetable soup", also ''utan Bisaya''), which is made from moringa leaves and various vegetables.

References

Philippine chicken dishes Philippine soups Palauan cuisine Papaya dishes {{Philippines-cuisine-stub References Fernandez, D. G. (1994). Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture. Anvil Publishing. Sta. Maria, F. P. (2006). The Governor-General's Kitchen: Philippine Culinary Vignettes and Period Recipes, 1521–1935. Anvil Publishing. Villanueva, R. (2020). Exploring Filipino Cuisine: A Cultural and Historical Perspective. Philippine Culinary Press. Philippine Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). Philippine Native Ingredients and Recipes.

Variants

Cultural significance

Similar dishes

See also

References