Pesang Manok is the answer to your chicken and soup cravings. It is pretty similar to another Filipino dish called nilaga (meaning “boiled” when translated to English).
It does not end there though, amazingly, it is not only nilaga that this chicken dish is similar to; there are also many other soup-based dishes that use fowl meat in the Philippines like tinola and sinampalukang manok. Then, how are you supposed to know their differences so we can cook each of them individually? Let’s first compare the other dishes from our current star which is the chicken in ginger soup.
Similarity of Pesang Manok to Tinola, Nilaga and Sinampalukan
- The ingredients used in making nilaga are beef or pork meat and vegetables like cabbages, green beans, potatoes, saging na saba.
- For tinola, the essential ingredients are the fowl meat, ginger, sayote or green papaya, and chili leaves or malunggay leaves.
- Lastly, the sinampalukang manok is easy to identify because it has a sour taste that it gets from tamarind or sampalok, hence its name. It also needs ginger and additional vegetables like tamarind leaves.
Notice that the last two dishes require the use of ginger, and just like how it is with the pesa recipe, ginger is one of its main ingredients, together with chicken and most of the vegetables found in nilaga. There you have it, pesang manok. The similarities also show how many Filipino meals are based on each other, they just needed a few tweaks and that’s it.
Is the recipe healthy? Of course, it is! With all the overflowing vegetables and the chicken meat, there is an assurance of an impressive nutrition content of the dish. Pesang manok is really suitable for the rainy season, but nothing can stop a craving person, right? Pair it with rice, eat it as it is - no matter how you plan to devour the comforting dish is up to you. You can give to your kids too, and make them eat healthier meals for a change.
Recipe
Pesang Manok Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken cut into serving pieces
- 6 cups water
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 thumb-sized ginger cut into strips
- ½ tsp peppercorn
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 medium potatoes cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 bundle baby Bok Choy
- 1 medium Napa Cabbage
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, pour 6 cups of water and add the chicken. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove scums that float until the soup is clear.
- Add the onion, ginger, peppercorn and fish sauce. Cover with the lid and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
- Put the potatoes and simmer for another 3 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the baby bok choy and napa cabbage. Gently press to submerge the vegetables and cook for another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot!
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