Apr 21, 2012
I made this for a filipina friend of mine & she commented that it tasted good but the spinach was not something she grew up using. It was too strong a taste. Try pepper/sili leaves. She also makes this with/without the squash. It's not crucial if you just want soup now. What makes this dish distinct is the ginger , onion, & fish sauce(patis). I buy it in the asian market. Without this trifecta, you DO NOT have Tinola. Soy is not a substitution at all. Soy is a plant based product. Patis is animal based and although both are salty, soy is not multilayered in taste like patis. Maybe this is why some of you find it lacking depth when you use soy as a substitution. It's like saying a veggie burger tastes like dry aged prime rib steak. The secret of this broth is Patis. There are no substitutions unfortunately. I've had this made for me, where you dump it all into a pot to stew for a couple of hours & it tastes great. I don't even brown it. You can even substitute beef(don't brown it) for chicken, so my filipina friend tells me. I've had it & it tastes great. Btw I don't use chicken broth. I use water & season to taste(with more patis if necessary, never with more salt which is one dimensional) when the meat's done. You are essentially making a stock from scratch. It keeps the broth rich, the meat tender but the soup delicate. It's supposed to be delicate tasting but NOT bland. On a historical note, patis is the closest modern substitution for the ancient roman ingredient "garum".
—Roan
