Chicken Binakol

Chicken Binakol is similar to the Tinolang Manok. This dish is cooked traditionally in a bamboo to help seal in the natural flavor of the ingredients. The coconut milk and juice adds sweetness to dish and the lemon grass and ginger gives it a pungent taste. Another way of cooking this dish is with the use of the coconut shell as its pot. But for the convenience, this dish may be cooked in an ordinary pot.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs), cut into serving pieces
3 cups young coconut water
1 1/2 cups young coconut meat
2 cups chicken broth
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 small green papaya, wedged
1 cup hot pepper leaves
4 stalks lemon grass, cut in 1 inch length and pounded
1 medium onion, chopped
1 knob ginger(about 1 tablespoon), chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

1. Heat a cooking pot and pour-in cooking oil.
2. Saute garlic when the oil is hot.
3. Put-in onions, ginger, and lemon grass, and then cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the chicken. Stir and cook until the color turns light brown (about 3 to 5 minutes)
5. Add ground black pepper and fish sauce. Stir.
6. Put-in the young coconut meat, young coconut water, and chicken broth. Allow to boil, and then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.
7. Add the green papaya. Cook for 5 minutes.
8. Put-in the hot pepper leaves and cook for a minute more.
9. Turn the heat off, and then transfer to a serving bowl.