Chicken Binagoongan

Chicken binagoongan is a Filipino chicken dish, made by adding fried chicken and fried eggplant to sautéed paste of onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and shrimp paste. If you prefer chicken than pork, this recipe is for you! Tender chicken chunks coated with the savoury alamang sauce served on top of hot steaming rice, craving for this over and over again

WHAT IS BAGOONG ALAMANG?

Bagoong alamang is one of the usual condiments you see in the pantry. It can be classified into two: one that is made with fish and one made from shrimps. Both bagoong are salty and burst with umami.

The bagoong alamang which will be used in this dish is the one made from shrimp. This condiment is actually a fermented shrimp paste. Aside from being canned, you can see bagoong alamang near the vegetable section of the grocery. You may be shocked to see two types of this fermented shrimp paste so here it is.

The uncooked shrimp paste are salty fermented shrimps which are colored pink. It is not naturally pink. The color is added just to make it distinct.

The cooked shrimp paste is the about the same as the pink one but is already sauteed. It is also called guisadong bagoong. It is brown in color and can be readily used in cooking. This is the one where you dip your green mangoes in. (I drooled a bit!!)

CHICKEN BINAGOONGAN

As the usual marketer of the family, I am very much aware with the prices of different commodities. I have already achieved the tita level where I know where I can get discounts and sales. As a tipid tita, I make sure that I buy the best ingredients with the lowest price I can get.

Even before the pandemic, prices of pork are continuously rising. With that, I started preparing less pork dishes just to budget our money well. I remember craving on sisig but our weekly meal plan said no. (I prepared tofu sisig and it made me feel a bit better).

Instead of the never-ending dreaming of our favorite pork dishes, why don’t we make use of the cheaper alternatives? When compared to pork, chicken cost much lesser. Chicken also has more lean parts and less fat, which can make our dishes relatively less in calories.

I started gathering my pork recipes to make a chicken version of it. Chicken binagoongan is one of my favorites. If you want to know how to make one, read the recipe below. Happy cooking!

HOW TO COOK CHICKEN BINAGOONGAN

Making this dish is simply straightforward. First, prepare the eggplant by frying them until light brown. Eggplants are used as extenders in dishes like this since they are bland and can absorb excess saltiness. You can use other vegetables too, especially the ones used in pinakbet.

To make this dish much flavorful, lets use the natural oil from the chicken. Sear the chicken pieces until oil has been rendered. Set the chicken aside then saute the aromatics, the tomatoes and the shrimp paste. Don’t forget to wash the shrimp paste first before adding to the pan to reduce saltiness. You can also use the bagoong guisado in this dish but is recommended to saute it again to combine its flavor with the rest of the ingredients.

Saute the chicken with the aromatics. Pour some water just to soften the chicken. The water will also serve as the soup so add water depending on how saucy you want your binagoongan to be. For me, a little but thick and flavorful sauce is the best.

Don’t forget to add the eggplants and coat them in the sauce. Do a final taste test and adjust the taste. Ease up on using salt since the shrimp paste is already salty. When everything is done, serve the chicken binagoongan with a lot of hot steaming rice.

Chicken Binagoongan Recipe (TAGALOG)

MGA SANGKAP:

• 1/2 kilo ng manok (mas maganda kung hita)
• 2 piraso  ng talong (may balat, hiniwa)
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 2 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 kutsarita ng luya (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 2 kamatis (hiniwa)
• 2 – 3 kutsara ng bagoong alamang
• 1/4 kutsara ng paminta
• 1 kutsarita ng toyo (o asin)
• 1 kutsarita ng asukal (optional)
• 1/2 o 1 tasa ng tubig (dagdagan kung kailangan)
• siling pansigang (hiniwa)
• mantika (pangprito)

PAANO LUTUIN:

1. Magpainit ng mantika at iprito ang mga talong hanggang maging light brown. Isantabi.
2. Igisa ang mga manok hanggang mag-iba ang kulay. Budburan ng paminta. Hayaan lang itong maluto hanggang magmantika. Isantabi.
3. Igisa ang sibuyas, bawang, at luya hanggang maging light brown. Ilagay ang mga kamatis at medyo piratin habang ginigisa. Huling ilagay ang bagoong alamang at igisa ng ilang minuto.
4. Ilagay ang mga manok at ihalo sa sauce.
5. Maglagay ng tubig para mapalambot ang manok. Takpan ang kawali at lutuin ito ng 10 – 12 minuto gamit ang katamtamang apoy.
6. Tikman at iadjust ang lasa gamit ang asin/toyo o asukal.
7. Ilagay ang mga pinritong talong at haluin para malagyan ng sauce. Maglagay ng hiniwang siling pansigang para umanghang. Lutuin pa ito ng 1 – 2 minuto.
8. Ilipat ang chicken binagoongan with eggplant sa serving plate at ihain kasama ang mainit na kanin. Enjoy!