Don’t be fooled: the duplication of the basic adjective halang (Bisaya for spicy) in chicken halang-halang means that the dish is a little/somewhat peppery, instead of being very much so. Same goes with parát (salty), tam-is (sweet), aslum (sour), or paít (bitter): repetition (parát-parat, paít-pait, etc.) points to that particular taste being just a tad more pronounced than the usual. As for what’s “usual,” well…
Halang-halang is basically spicy chicken tinowa with tunô (coconut cream). The cream blunts the edge off the chilies (I use both bird’s-eye and finger). The way I make it, I season bite-size chicken pieces (here half a commercial broiler’s worth) with salt (½ teaspoon) and fish sauce (1 tablespoon), cook covered over low heat with pounded lemongrass bulb, sliced turmeric and ginger, and crushed garlic, until tender. Then I add the second pressing of coconut (the watery one), minced chilies, and sliced spring onion and green papaya, season to taste with some hon-dashi, white pepper powder, and a sprinkling of sugar, and wait until the sliced papaya are tender enough for a fork to slide in halfway (but not all the way through). Finally, I pour in the first-pressed (pure) coconut cream, let it simmer for around 5 minutes, stir in a big handful of young pepper leaves, cover the pot back up, and turn off the heat.
Some halang-halang are more watery than creamy, and I like it that way as well. Others use chayote instead of green papaya. Or throw in thinly sliced green beans, which suspiciously look like green chili, leaving you to puzzle over what the next spoonful might unleash: tag-an-tag-an, it’s called — a guessing game. Just make sure to cook enough rice to go with the dish. Or, better yet, make double the usual.
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