Kinulob Na Manok (Whole Stewed Chicken)

Kinulob na Manok

If the Koreans have their Samgyetang or Ginseng Chicken, we have Kinulob na Manok. Kinulob in this context means forced cooking and covered tightly. This is our very own version of pressurized cooking in the olden times.

This Kinulob na Manok recipe is an easy chicken recipe, more popularly cooked in the provinces, especially in the Southern Tagalog Region. In Batangas, they have a fiesta dedicated for this chicken recipe which is called the Kinulob Festival.

Originally, it is cooked in a “palayok” or clay pot. The claypot is covered with banana leaves then tied up so steam won’t come out. You can cook it in a regular pot but don’t forget the banana leaves covering. I think this is also part of the recipe and the smell is incorporated in the stewed chicken.

The whole stewed chicken is then cooked slowly in medium fire for about an hour or less -depending on the size of your chicken.

According to Chef Jessie, who shared this recipe in the Culinary Elite Series Cooking Class at the Maya Kitchen for her Filipino Christmas Recipes, the original recipe is by Patis Tesoro. The original recipe had Chorizo and Bacon.

The taste is a bit sweetish, maybe because of the chorizo and tomatoes. I liked it as a soup. Although this chicken dish came from my region, I had not had a chance to taste it before – we always had either Adobong Manok or Tinola if it’s soup.

It’s a very festive chicken dish, which is probably why Chef Jessie included it in her Filipino Christmas Table – the chorizo and tomatoes bringing the color to the dish.