Pininyahang Manok is made by stewing chicken pieces marinated in pineapple juice with pineapple chunks, carrots, potato pieces, bell pepper and evaporated milk. The dish is simmered in light flame until desired thickness is achieved. Pininyahang Manok or pineapple chicken is a hearty and creamy Filipino chicken dish with a variety of ingredients and is usually served during a meal with rice.
PININYAHANG MANOK
Canned pineapples are one of the readily available ingredient from the market which can easily be incorporated with a range of dishes. People get creative more and more each day on where to use pineapples in their food.
Pininyahang manok is one of my favorite dishes since I really love pineapples. This dish has a variety of color and textures which makes it more appealing to eat. It is one of the Filipino classic dishes. This dish has different counterpart dishes all around the world. Gang Ped Gai Sapparot for example is the Thailand version of this dish. There are different versions of pininyahang manok depending on the liquid base used. The most common liquid base used is fresh milk or evaporated milk. Other liquid bases include chicken stock and coconut milk. Pininyahang manok sa gata is when coconut milk was used instead of fresh milk.
HOW TO MAKE PININYAHANG MANOK
If you are familiar with chicken pastel, cooking pininyahang manok has almost similar steps and ingredients with that dish. In making pininyahang manok, you are going to initially saute all the ingredients and then fully cook them in the pineapple juice and evaporated milk. Simmering the ingredients for a few minutes will help the pineapple juice sip in the ingredients. This will lets the other ingredients absorb the creaminess and tanginess of the sauce.
You can opt to use canned pineapples or freshly prepared pineapples. Personally I use the canned pineapples because there would be less preparation and the chunks and the sauce is already sweetened, unlike fresh pineapples with an uncertain sweetness and sourness level.
When all ingredients are cooked, the pininyahang manok is ready. Check on the sauce if the consistency is alright for you. If you want a thicker sauce, simmer the dish for a few more minutes for some of the liquid to evaporate. Transfer it to a serving dish and enjoy with warm rice.