FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Chicken soups are among the most well loved recipes anywhere in the world. And here in Western Visayas, among the most popular chicken soups is chicken binakol . Basically, it's chicken and vegetables stewed in coconut juice. The juice (and also meat) from the coconut makes this soup distinct from other chicken soups for it has a tinge of sweetness coming from those ingredients. Usually, native chicken is used when cooking chicken binakol because of it's distinct flavour. It is cut into pieces then placed in bamboo tubes together with coconut juice and meat, tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers and salt. The recipe varies for some add ginger (can't get over the tinola recipe?), lemon grass, potatoes and more. Then the bamboo tube is sealed and placed over fire and wait for it to boil. This is where it got it's name - for binakol is a Kiniray-a term for cooking inside a bamboo tube. Others say it roots from the Hiligaynon word bakol , meaning "to span...

Aside from inasal, another popular and (almost) famous chicken dish from Western Visayas is chicken binakol. It's basically like tinola but what makes it unique is the addition of coconut water and meat. Thus it gives a more refreshing, lighter and sweeter flavour to the dish. Now most restaurants serve binakol and claims being authentic but in fact what they do is throw in some chicken and vegetables and put generous amount of coconut meat and water for their "binakol". Like this one I had last week, the essence of the native dish was literally lost as it "bastardized" the recipe by adding bell peppers among others. I love bell peppers but NOT with my binakol! The broth was literally coconut water for I never tasted even hints of salt and other seasoning. But it was a well presented chicken "binakol" and is very photogenic but NOT the real thing.

A traditional soup dish of Western Visayas, chicken binakol , is a simple chicken soup made special by the addition of coconut water and coconut meat. Thus the broth has sweetness into it yet still savoury because of the chicken and other ingredients. Moreso, if one uses free range chicken or Bisaya as the locals call these organic fowls. It also adds more native flavour if cooking is done the traditional way, that is all the ingredients are placed inside a cleaned bamboo, covered and placed on fire. The natural juices of the bamboo adds some more uniqueness to the dish. So, how about some chicken binakol ...

I've been here many times but this is the first one with blogging in mind. It was actually an unexpected text message from EricD of www.byahilo.com asking me where he can find chicken binakol since he was craving for one. I gave him Breakthrough Restaurant (having seen it featured on TV) and Buto't Balat having this actually part of our order before. Eric chose Buto't Balat and luckily I was in the vicinity so we decided on a late-lunch EB. I didn't actually raved about Buto't Balat's chicken binakol before but their sisig keeps me craving for more. I already knew what orders will be even before we even met that time. Indeed it was a native chicken binakol (PhP 188, PhP152 for broiler chicken) and sizzling sisig (Php168). Since EricD has also started a food blog www.sugarloaded.com , it was another great meeting sharing passion for food, photography and blogging. The place offered a good blogging ambiance that time since there wasn't a crowd and picture ...

Another famous Ilonggo dish though other places outside the region have their own version. I remember asking why it is called binakol and I was answered that the native chicken was literally "binakol" (hit with a stick) to make the juices (and blood) to be distributed uniformly making the chicken it more flavourful. Such a tragedy in making this feel good soup and I really hope it wasn't like that. Its a simple dish wherein all ingredients are stuffed inside a bamboo tube and cooked in embers not fire. It is almost like cooking tinola but its the coconut water that makes the difference. Ofcourse, you can cook binakol at home without the bamboo tube hassle. There are many recipes online yet I have this recipe based on what I've eaten at Butot' Balat. Saute chicken and potato in garlic, onion and tomato (ginger-optional). Then add coconut water (and meat-optional) and bring to a boil. You can also add bellpeppers and broth cubes for enhancements . If ever you ...