Chicken Soup for the Sick: Mini-Tinola

This is the soup that I mentioned back here. Snow has finally fallen on Cincinnati, and with these temperatures you can be sure the sniffles and flu are once more in frenzied action. We are trying to ward it off by having lots of antioxidants (that chocolate is never far away, but you can only have so much) and bowls upon bowls of this aromatic broth. For those already afflicted by colds and cough, it is soothing and calming, and very nice to sip for even breakfast, or right before bedtime, somewhat like chamomile tea. You can make other things like seafood and vegetables, tinola style. The garlic and onions and ginger — and if you have them, pepper leaves (I don’t, though if you’re in the same boat as I am you could use other greens like spinach or bok choy) — are great support for your immune system, so go ahead and slurp.

Some tinola recipes from the blogosphere:

From Mathy at Virundhu
From Enigmused at Recipezaar
From TulipFleurs
From Anchovylove
From Maria

As you can see, different strokes for different folks. The soup pictured here is made with leftover bones and carcass from a whole chicken, but I prefer using a whole chicken, minus the breasts (unless I don’t have anything else prepared to go with the meal, in which case I use everything); I’m also with the saute-then-slow-cook camp, where the garlic-onion-ginger combination is sauteed until golden and fragrant, so that it infuses everything, the broth, the chicken, the veggies….

Keep warm!!