Traditional Palau tinola: the chicken soup with ginger, green papaya and moringa leaves from the islands

Palau, an archipelago of three hundred islands in the western Pacific, has a cuisine that mixes the taro, fish and coconut of the first inhabitants with what the Japanese, the Americans and, above all, the Filipinos brought, who today are a large part of the population. Tinola, the Philippine chicken soup with ginger, became home food in Koror, made with what the island gives: green papaya, moringa leaves and backyard chicken.

It is a clear, fat-free soup, with generous slices of ginger dominating the broth, bone-in chicken cooked until it falls off, and green papaya, which turns soft and slightly sweet, or chayote, which plays the same role. The greens go in at the last minute: moringa, found in Asian stores and growing in every tropical backyard, or chili leaves, or spinach.

It is seasoned with fish sauce and served with white rice and lime, the Philippine calamansi or a regular lime. It is the soup for those with a cold, those who came in from the rain and those who just want a light dinner on a hot island.

Recipe card

• Origin: Palau, with Filipino roots
• Category: Chicken soup, main course
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 50 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 kg bone-in chicken pieces (thighs, drumsticks, wings)
• 1 piece of ginger, 6 cm, in thick slices
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or salt to taste)
• 1.5 liters water
• 1 small green papaya, peeled, seeded, in pieces (or 2 chayotes)
• 2 cups moringa leaves (or chili leaves, or spinach)
• Black pepper to taste
• White rice and lime to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pot and sauté the ginger, garlic and onion on medium for 3 minutes, until fragrant.
2. Add the chicken and sauté for 5 minutes, until the skin changes color.
3. Add the fish sauce, stir for 1 minute and pour in the water.
4. Boil, skim the foam, lower the heat and cook covered for 30 minutes, until the chicken is tender.
5. Add the papaya and cook for 10 minutes, until soft but whole.
6. Turn off the heat, add the moringa leaves, cover for 2 minutes and season with pepper and more fish sauce if needed.
7. Serve very hot with rice and lime.

Tips and variations

• Lots of ginger is the soul of tinola: do not skimp.
• Green papaya is found in markets and Asian stores; chayote is the exact substitute in texture.
• Free-range chicken gives the best broth, with 20 more minutes.
• A whole green chili in the broth perfumes without burning.
• Leftovers reheat well; the leaves always go in fresh, at the last moment.
• In Palau, reef fish instead of chicken makes the same soup, in half the time.
• Do not use bouillon cubes: the ginger, garlic and chicken make the broth on their own.

Tinola is ginger, chicken and green papaya in a clear broth, with fresh leaves on top: the soup that warms Palau on days of tropical rain. Simple, light and one pot only.