chicken binakol (^dixinne^^)
Here is my first recipe. This recipe is not only Visayan, but it is uniquely Ilonggo. We call this dish “Binakol”. What’s unique about this dish is it uses the water of a young coconut as part of the broth and they used to cook this inside a makeshift bamboo pot and slowly cooked over hot coals. So you can imagine the aroma of the lemongrass, the coconut and the bamboo permeating the soup. Namit! (masarap)
Ingredients:
Free range chicken or Cornish hen (Back home we use a variety they call “Bisaya”, it is basically a native free range chicken that is very flavorful. )
Kamias (Iba in visayan)
Lemongrass (Tanglad)
Ginger (julienned)
Garlic (chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste
Chili (Siling haba)
Young coconut
Chicken bouillon (If you don’t have enough chicken bones and time to prepare the stock)
Directions:
Saute the ginger and garlic until fragrant
Add the chicken and continue to saute until slightly brown
Add the coconut water and coconut meat, add some water to cover the chicken
Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes
Bring the pot to a simmer and add the Kamias and the lemongrass.
Depending on how spicy you want the dish to be you can add the Chili sooner, but I like to add it towards the end.
