A soup served as a main entree in the Philippines, tinola is traditionally cooked with chicken, wedges of unripe papaya and sili leaves. I cook tinola with chayote instead. Should it be chicken tinola every time? No, of course not. I tried cooking tinola with pork once and I’ve done it several times since. My family loves it too. It is a good idea to use a cut of pork with bones like ribs. It would yield an even richer broth. But, since you will get less meat, you will have to increase amount (based on weight) of the pork. This time I used pork baby back ribs.

YOU NEED…….

* 1 kg baby back ribs- cut into serving sized-pieces
* 1/2 head garlic, crushed and discard skin
* 1 thum-sized pc. of ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
* 1 onion, sliced
* 3 chayote (sayote)- peeled, cut into wedges
* 1 bunch of young onion leaves or spring onion
* salt or patis (fermented fish sauce)
* pepper corn
* 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
* 5 cups of water or broth

HOW TO…….

1.) Heat vegetable oil n large pan or casserole, over high heat. Saute onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add pork ribs and stirring, cook until no longer pink on both sides. Season with salt or patis ( I used patis) and pepper corn. Pour in the water or broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

2.) About 15 minutes before the pork is fully cooked, increase heat to high and add the chayote wedges. Adjust seasoning if necessary simmer until chayote is cook. Add young onion leaves on top cover for 5 minutes. Serve hot.