Halang – Halang
November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ ConnieWhen I first posted a recipe for halang-halang, the only thing I knew about the dish was that it was similar to tinola except for the addition of coconut milk. It turns out — based on readers’ comments — that halang-halang literally translates to anghang-anghang (spicy-spicy) and chilis are an essential ingredient of the dish. It turns out too that there are many, many ways of cooking halang-halang, some with chunks of chicken, some with pork, and some with very small pieces of meat. Some serve it as a soup; others, as an almost-dry stew.
So, I decided to update my halang-halang recipe. The old comments are still below and the original entry is on page two.
Serves 3 to 4.
1 kilo of chicken pieces (thighs, legs, back and wings are preferred; breast meat is too dry for this dish)
2 tbsps. of soy sauce
2 tbsps. of vegetable cooking oil (extra virgin coconut oil will yield a more aromatic halang-halang)
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
chili peppers (what kind and how much depends on how spicy you want the dish — I used 2 pcs. of siling labuyo>)
2 whole chayote
patis (fish sauce), to taste
1 c. of coconut cream or milk (use cream for a thicker halang-halang; use milk for a thinner soup)
a handful of sili leaves
Cut the chicken into serving size pieces and place in a bowl. Pour in two tablespoonfuls of soy sauce and toss to coat each piece well.
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Crush the garlic, peel and slice the ginger and the onion.
Heat the cooking oil in a pot and saute the ginger and garlic until fragrant, about two minutes. Add the sliced onion and continue sauteing until the onion slices start to soften.
Add the chicken to the pot, pour in enough water to cover and add the chilis. Season with patis (fish sauce). Bring to the boil, cover, then turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
While the chicken cooks, peel the chayote, cut off the pith at the core and cut into wedges.
Wash the sili leaves. No need to use soap. 
Pour in the coconut cream or milk. Bring to the boil then turn off the heat. Add the sili leaves, cover and leave for about three minutes to allow the sili leaves to wilt. Do not boil after adding the sili leaves or the dish will taste bitter.
Serve the halang-halang hot.
Below, the illustrated version of the recipe. After the thumbnails, the link to page two where you will find the original entry posted so many years ago.
Add the chayote wedges to the chicken in the pot. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
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Hi! Halang-halang in the visayan dialect is translated as anghang-anghang in pilipino. This is a delicious dish. Here, we sometimes add a little kasubha or ashuete or very little soy sauce to add a little color to the dish.
the dish is called halang halang because of the chili that is added to it. at least, in the visayas that’s how it’s done. it’s a coconutty and very spicy dish.
btw, I like the Comment Previews just below the comment field.
Hi Cristal and Gelo. so… halang means spicy. Thanks for the info.
hi everyone! halang-halang in bisaya is different coz we are using beef with sooo spicy soup:lol:
in cebuano halang means hot or spicy..yup we use beef for our halang2x version here..
Hi Guys,
I went home to Davao and has tasted Halang-Halang Dish. Yes! They used beef and was absolutely delicious and was very very spicy. I am in the process of cooking it now but don’t know the real engredients to this. Please help me make my Halang Halang Beef visayan version. It became my favorite dish now and would like to master it.
Sincerely,
Marilyn
i’m currently based in Cebu and the kind of “halang-halang” i’ve tasted here is basically finely chopped chicken cooked more like adobo and very spicy. they use mostly the back part of the chicken, tinadtad ng pinong-pino, other version i’ve tried medyo malaki ang hiwa ng chicken but cooked like adobo lang and no gata… i guess kanya-kanyang version lang yan.
i try to cook this halang-halang at masarap siya ha! lutuin ko ito madalas sa aking kainan…
Halang halang kamo sa akon…hahaha
jowk!
I tried cooking the halang halang but I don not know to cook it..It taste like a Spicy tinolang manok.. honestly masarap tlaga sya..Hmmm
hi ms connie,
i would like to try this out, question lang po, do i need to cut the siling haba into slices o no need na? thanks po
Hindi na, Anna.
thanks ms connie, will try this out. sawa na kami sa tinola.
thanks again!
thanks 4 d info..i’l have an experiment on it..
hi i never knew that it had a name, i just call this as tinola na may gata since the procedure is like cooking tinola but adding some gata to add some sweetness.
on that note, you may also want to try cooking tinola but with tomato sauce. not sure though what i could call it, tinolang pula?!?!
This recipe reminds me of Chicken Curry. I’ll give this a try: I have friends who enjoy spicy food but hate the “bantot” of curry (which comes from the cumin, I guess)…
Thanks Ms. Connie!
can i use hilaw na papaya instead of sayote. your cake recipes makes me busy on weekends with my 4 yr old daughter . More power to you.
Yes, it’s traditional to use green papaya except that we like the sweetness and texture of chayote in the family.
wow! it’s a tinola with a twist!
gonna try this, thanks for sharing.
advance happy birthday, atty.!
saan po kaya makakabili ng pastry dough or filo pastry -like in the chicken a la king of french baker?
many dept stores are now holding “sale” on homewares so we’d like to know sana when you will be posting your recommended cook/bake wares so we can avail of discounts during the sale period…i’ve read about your post on stainless cookware.what are the basic pieces/sizes?… if possible also kindly include topics about non-stick wares because there are so many brands and kinds, and we are more confused which to buy/use…
thank you and have a joyful celebration…
Phyllo pasty is available at Santi’s.
Can’t say when I can post the basic cookware entry. Depends when there’s a lot of time. But soon, hopefully.
I’m far away from home and I miss Pinoy food terribly. This is something I would definitely cook when I come home soon. Comfort….
Hmmmmm……….. chicken tinola with a twist………
masubukan nga……… i like chili leaves.been trying to grow chili…but my mom keeps killing them!!!!kainis…….
oo nga,nakakasawa na kung minsan ang plain tinola.sometimes, connie,i put vermicelli in it para maiba.kaso,d vermicelli soaks up d soup very fast!!kaya it should be served agad.
salamat uli,mentor connie!!!!!
Hi thank you for posting this. I recently just started cooking and all I know how to cook so far is Tinola. I am going to try this recipe since it’s not too far from the way of cooking Tinola. Kind of scared to cook anything else right now b/c it might turn out gross, but my Tinola has been good so far, gets better and better each time I cook it. But we are getting tired of it. I think we’re starting to grow wings!
the bicolanos cook this dish too, right? but they use green papaya…have you tried using kamias instead of green papaya/sayote? my lola & my bicolana officemate say it tastes sooo good but i have not tried it though…i like everything chicken & with coconut milk heheheh!
hello connie. maharang means maanghang in bicol. i clicked the dish because i like anything with chili peppers. it’s harvest time for peppers hence i am getting a lot of them from gardeners. i have a bunch of them on my countertop and they are starting to rot. thanks to you, we are having a spicy and creamy chicken tinola tonight.
hello miss connie! great recipe..but i couldnt get chayote and sili leaves, so i used upo and spinach instead, and it was ok.and the coconut milk i used was so watery it was like soup na.. i bet it taste better if the liquid is reduced to almost gravy consistency?
thanks for this recipe…
Yes, the thicker the better, actually. If you’re using canned coconut milk, try to look for coconut cream next time.
Hi Connie, can coconut cream be bought in the supermarket?
Yes.