Ok, maybe the “tuyo” (dry) part in the title is a little overkill. I just wanted to make a point–that while this dish was cooked like the classic tinola, this is NOT a soup. Boiled and diced chayote, chicken gizzards and pork belly are sauteed in garlic, onions, tomato, ginger, bay leaf and cracked black pepper, then seasoned with a little soy sauce and patis.
You might think, what the heck…??? Well, it’s been stormy and rainy all week. Vegetables in the wet market don’t look too great during the rainy season. And, naturally, they are more expensive too. You buy whatever looks good–and cheap–and whip up something with it.
The idea really was to cook something between batchoy and tinola. Both use a lot of ginger. But while batchoy is not all that soupy, tinola is. Problem was, we couldn’t get sili leaves. Our sili plants died after my husband threw a handful of guava seeds in the backyard–the trees are now about six feet high. And there are at least eight of them growing very close to each other. They get the lion’s share of the sunlight and the soil nutrients, killing the sili plants in the process. We’re going to remove some of the guava trees, of course–I think two would be enough. And we’ll plant new sili but not during the rainy season. Around October would be a better time.
Ingredients :
200 g. of chicken gizzards
150 g. of pork liempo (belly)
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, peeled and julienned
1 head of garlic, crushed
2 white onions, diced
1 tomato, diced (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 large, or 4 small, chayote
1 tbsp. of dark soy sauce
patis
cracked black pepper
4 tbsps. of cooking oil
5-6 stalks of spring onions (onion leaves or sibuyas na mura), finely chopped
Cooking procedure :
Wash the gizzards and trim all visible fat. Wash the pork as well. Place them in a large saucepan, cover with water and simmer until tender. Cool completely before cutting into small pieces (how small is up to you).
Reserve the broth.
Peel the chayote and cut into chunks. Again the size depends on your preference. Remember that the bigger the chunks, the longer they take to cook. It is also a good idea to cut the vegetables in sizes that would look good with the rest of the ingredients. Reheat the broth and cook the chayote in it. Do not overcook the chayote; you will still be sauteeing them later. Drain well and cool.
Heat the cooking oil in a skillet or casserole. Saute the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add the diced onions, bay leaf and tomato and cook for another minute. Add the gizzards and pork and cook until the vegetables are very soft and the meat starts to brown. Pour in the soy sauce and the patis (and a little broth if you don’t want the cooked dish to be completely dry). Add pepper, if using. Finally, add the cooled chayote and cook over high heat, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with finely chopped sibuyas na mura. Serve hot.
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