I went to the kitchen mid-morning to get water, and I saw ingredients laid out. I asked my mom what she was planning to make and she said Chicken Menudo. I stopped her right there and said that I was gonna take care of preparing lunch.
No one, and I mean no one loves menudo in this house more than I do. I believe that the most important ingredient that goes into any successful dish is love. Because I have lotsa love to give for this dish, I knew that it had to be me in that kitchen. I mean, I don’t think that you could look at the finished product and tell me that I’m not right. I know you can’t because the love just totally shows.
It’s actually a really easy recipe to make, and I can say that because to tell you the truth, today was the first time that I ever made menudo. I asked my mom how she used to make it, then I looked for other recipes online. I saw this one, and sort of just combined it with my moms, made a few adjustments on my own, and the rest is tasty history.
I started out with a kilo and a half of cubed chicken breast, plus 1/4 kilo of chicken liver. Even if you don’t like liver, add some. It does wonders for the sauce. Marinate the meat for at least half an hour in soy sauce, vinegar, tomato paste and black pepper.
While the chicken is marinading, you might want to start sauteing the cubed potatoes and carrots in a little bit of oil. Cook them just enough so that they begin to become tender, but not too much that they get too soft and fall apart in the sauce later on. This significantly cuts the cooking time of the menudo so that you don’t overcook the chicken.
After 30 minutes in the fridge, the chicken is good to go. So you saute garlic and onions in the same pot or wok you used to precook the other veggies. Add in the chicken and the marinade and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all the pieces are completely cooked. Stir this occasionally.
Add carrots, potatoes, bell peppers and peas. Mix, mix. Throw in some red hotdogs, sliced so that they look like coins. This is optional, but in my world menudo makes no sense without hotdogs in it. Then, add the tomato sauce and water. Finally, add 2 tablespoons of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir up everything in the pot and simmer until the sauce thickens.
Once the sauce is as thick as you like, which is most likely around the time that the chicken liver starts to melt into it, you are done. All you need now is some fluffy steamed rice.
I’m so glad I made a big batch coz that means that we can have this again for lunch tomorrow. Yay!
- 1.5 kilos chicken, cubed
- 1/5 kilo chicken liver
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 tbsp black pepper
- 1 onion, chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 large carrot, cubed
- 1 large potato, cubed
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into squares
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 3 jumbo sized red hotdogs, cut into circles
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooking oil
- Combine tomato paste, vinegar, soy sauce and pepper. Pour over chicken cubes and liver, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Fry cubed potatoes and carrots in a little bit of oil until tender, but still firm.
- In the same pot or wok, saute garlic and onions.
- Add the marinaded chicken and liver pieces, as well as the marinade. Simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are completely cooked. Stir occasionally.
- Add potatoes, carrots, peas, and bell peppers. After a few minutes, add the hotdog slices.
- Pour in the tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of water. Add sugar.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Then, allow to simmer until the sauce thickens.
- Serve menudo over steamed rice.
- You can also opt to add raisins for a little bit of sweetness, but I would rather not have them in this dish.
Cooked this for dinner last night. the kids and…the husbandry liked it! pwede daw ulitin 🙂
thanks for sharing!
I’ve never tried cooking menudo coz I always thought it was too complicated. I must try your recipe, with chicken pa instead of pork, goody! I hope my husband and sibs-in-law like it! 🙂
I hope so, too! 🙂
I also use a lot of garlic and onions. I got this from Thai people.
Loved this —— “the most important ingredient that goes into any successful dish is love” — Mrs.C
Chicken is our favorite at home. We actually have chicken menudo for a meal next week. Yay!
Thanks for the recipe! I’m not that good in the kitchen but I wanna learn how to cook. I’m starting to learn now, little by little and this is very helpful.
I love Menudo (next to Afritada, but they sort of taste the same)! I’ve never tried cooking it, though.
I’m really interested to find out if the hubby will finally like eating menudo with this recipe. Hahaha! Must try soon. 🙂
This looks delicious Pat! I haven’t tried cooking Chicken Menudo. It’s always pork. I shall give this a try.
Kilig ako na you will try my recipe hahaha!
I will and I will publish it in my blog with credit to you of course. Promise, tapusin ko lang yung mga nakapila kong backlogs… 😛
thanks for sharing your recipe.. natakam ako sa niluto mo.
oh wow, you’ve got yourself an app for easy download of your recipes, good for you! i’m not much into tomato sauce but my husband loves menudo. he would most likely love this. Thanks for sharing.
In my family too, I’m the only one who loves menudo. But your recipe is different from mine, I don’t marinate and I haven’t tried chicken. Will try this recipe. =)
I definitely agree. Homemade Food is much delicious when made with love. Looks really delicious! 🙂
Menudo – very yummy. Everyone loves this food.
Uy, this is a nice alternative to the usual pork one. I hate eating pa naman liver so I take it off the ingredients when I cook it. I’ll make my Mom cook this next week. ;D
The chicken menudo looks really tasty and one of my favorite meals.
The menudo looks yummy with lots of ingredients! Awesome, thanks for the recipe.
thanks for sharing this recipe! i’m gathering a load of recipes for me to practice cooking before I start going to med school next year :]
Thank you for sharing! I was about to ask for the recipe, good thing you posted it! I’ll try this one of these days.