Chicken Tinola with Corn, Cukes, and Pepper Greens

I cooked this last summer, when everyday I had cukes and corn more than I could use

From tinola corn cukes

(and when you have had sliced fresh cukes and corn for like a week already, you get tired of having them again and again).

So, I was going to cook this tinola, and was thinking, "I wish I had sayote or papaya." The papaya I could buy from hannaford here was too yellow/ripe for the purpose (I ended up eating that uncooked - manibalang was better for eating than the fully ripe, in my opinion). I combined with corn and bell pepper leaves from our garden (I chose only the youngest good-sized leaves; the more mature leaves are too strong). I was not disappointed with the result. My sons and I loved it.


Of course, the real main ingredients for tinola (aside from chicken meat) are:
green papaya/malunggay or
chayote (sayote)/dahon ng sili (fresh pepper leaves)

I cooked the breasts, thighs and legs separately as adobo. I made this for the soup and veggies.

My final ingredients for this dish:
Chicken, cut up into serving pieces
2 tbsp oil (or you can use the skin to render oil)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
thumb-size ginger, sliced
water enough to cover meat and veggies
1-2 cukes, cut in chunks
1 cup sweet corn kernel
1-2 handfuls of pepper greens
salt and pepper to taste

On medium high heat, sautee garlic and ginger until browned and fragrant. Add chicken pieces and sautee until browned. Sprinkle some salt, cover and lower heat to cook for 10 minutes. Take cover off, add water and turn on high to boil. Add cukes and corn and cook for another 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Turn off heat and stir in pepper greens until wilted.