The clock is ticking. My friend has asked me for a Vegan Tinola recipe because she’s cooking it for her Christmas Eve party, or as we Filipinos call, Noche Buena. And because Noche Buena is only a couple of days away, I have to cut to the chase and publish this post already. So here you go, I present to you the recipe for Vegan Tinola. In case you’re waiting for this one too, I hope it’s not too late yet!
Vegan Tinola
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed, and minced
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 2-inch ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 small chayote/sayote, peeled and cut into wedges
- ½ small young papaya peeled, deseeded, and cut into wedges
- 2 cups rice washing
- 4 cups water
- few pinches sea salt
- 2½ pieces vegetable bouillon or 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup button white mushrooms sliced, and/or
- 1 extra firm tofu, cubed
- Bunch of spinach or choice of leafy greens
Instructions
- Heat pot over medium heat and sauté garlic, onion, and ginger with oil until the onion has softened.
- Add sayote, young papaya, rice washing, water, salt, and vegetable broth. Cook until the papaya and sayote have softened. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Mix in the mushrooms and tofu and cook for another minute or until the mushrooms have softened.
- Add the spinach and cook for another minute.
- Turn off the heat and serve hot, preferably with rice on the side.
Notes
The key component is the garlic-onion-ginger combo with rice washing and vegetable broth. You can add other vegetables like bok choy, kale, etc. You may veganize it however you like just don't forget the base flavor!
What is rice washing? It's the water you use to wash the rice in. The first rinse is ideal and will impart a nice rice flavor in Tinola. To get rice washing, wash about a cup of rice with water, mix around, then separate the liquid from the rice. Use the wash in the Tinola recipe. To cook the rice, add a new cup of water and cook using a rice cooker.
What is rice washing? It's the water you use to wash the rice in. The first rinse is ideal and will impart a nice rice flavor in Tinola. To get rice washing, wash about a cup of rice with water, mix around, then separate the liquid from the rice. Use the wash in the Tinola recipe. To cook the rice, add a new cup of water and cook using a rice cooker.
I hope this recipe will reach her in time. I’ve had this recipe for quite some time now and couldn’t believe I had never posted it!
Happy Holidays!
Perfect. Making this for tomorrow’s Christmas lunch. Maligayang Pasko and thank you both! I’m lucky to have ‘met you’!
What is rice washing?
It’s the liquid that you washed the rice in. So to get that, wash about a cup of rice in water, and instead of discarding the water, use it in tinola. Then to cook the rice, just add more water and proceed. Hope that helps!
Does it have to be the liquid right after the first rinse of rice, or can it be the second (since aside from cleaning debris, rinsing the rice takes out extra starch)?
First rinse is always ideal because you get more flavor out of the rice. But if the rice has lots of debris, feel free to go with the second washing. Hope that helps!
Just curious, why use rice washing? Why can’t it be just water? 🙂
It’s for added flavor in the broth . You could use water if you prefer.
Hi RG! I made this for lunch today and it was absolutely delish, instead of using the vegetable bullion I used a packet of Mama Sita’s Tinola ginger soup base as I brought some home from my recent trip to Philippines! The ingredients are all vegan! Since being vegan I have been missing my mum’s tinola (among many other pinoy dishes) and this really hit the spot! Thank you 🙂
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/afac1555b1e1c83e651d5c08a21299bf006832f84fd19270f83cddd61cf76c29.jpg Hi RG! I made this for lunch today and it was delicious, instead of using
the vegetable bullion I used a packet of Mama Sita’s tinola ginger soup
base as I brought some home from my recent trip to Philippines! (The
ingredients are all vegan). Since being vegan I have been missing my
mum’s tinola (among many other Pinoy dishes) and this really hit the
spot! Thank you 🙂