Like my Dad’s unusual taste and take on food, my Mom also had her own specialties. Everything she had on the dinner table was considered ‘nutritious’ and the food she ate was constantly nagged to us as the ‘healthiest’ food … Continue reading Wild Cod Fillet in Sour Broth (Sinigang na Isda)
Do you remember when was the last time you cooked sinigang using real tamarind? Maybe you always cook it the traditional way; good for you. Hindi katulad ko, waahhh! […] Continue reading FF: Sabaw ng Tunay na Sinigang
We had a wonderful weekend getaway staying at this resort hotel we designed years ago – a much-needed rest from the pressures of work I didn’t even plug my internet cable to check my emails. (Advance Happy Valentines Day to you, too!) Just a teeny bit of work… design consultation yeah yeah yeah but that’s it. The rest is simply wonderful especially when everything is free. Haha! The hotel suite, the spa, the pool and oh the food! I just got shy I couldn’t bring myself to take photos but I can still remember the escargots!
So much for that. Here’s my sinigang na manok (chicken in sour soup) using lemon (again!) as souring agent. I admit I never thought chicken could be used for sinigang until I’ve read about it in the net. Karen and Connie, many thanks. Never did I see sinampalukang manok as sinigang, poor me. Anyhoo, it’s actually my first time to cook it this way – chicken, aubergine, taro sans the tamarind. Oh well, sinigang simply rocks!
I’ve always wanted to post a pork sinigang recipe but my ingredients are perpetually incomplete. It’s the weather that’s driving me crazy like kangkong (river spinach) isn’t available during winter or that I couldn’t find a single decent gabi (taro) during the summer days. Either I missed out buying the green chili or I am just plain unlucky. 
So I decided to post what I have and present few pics all at the same time…
Sinigang na baboy is a sour soup and I grew up loving tamarind as the main souring agent. Love it with bony parts or even slabs of pork fat. These, of course, must be simmered for quite a while to be tender and nice.
The vegetables that I normally include in the broth are sitaw (string beans), kangkong, radish, okra, aubergine, mustard greens and gabi. I don’t necessarily put everything all together but there are few combinations that I really like. I also love gabi as it gives a thick and creamy texture. I like crisp sitaw and kangkong. I like crushed tomatoes in it. I like okra but too bad i can’t find them here. One more thing, I like it real sour but not astringent. Hindi yung basta naasiman lang.
Here is the recipe for the 1st photo shown above. 2nd photo shown is sinigang without gabi, aubergine and green chili pepper but with sitaw. 3rd photo is buto-buto (bony parts) with sitaw and kangkong. Notice the color of the soup when it has no tomatoes as shown in the last photo.
I still have few pictures of my mom’s cooking taken during my last vacation that I want to share. Here is one of her many variations of sinigang (sour broth). Sinigang maybe cooked with fish, meat (maybe lean meat, fatty or bony parts) or shellfish. Vegetables vary depending on availability and, of course, preference. The most common souring agents are fresh sampalok (tamarind), bayabas (guava), kamias (bilimbi) or simply a pouch of sinigang mix available at the store nearest you.
So typical of mom – seldom does she plans on anything before buying, and even before cooking. Buy the staples and decide the last minute based on what’s in the ref/pantry and the remaining time before the meal itself. An example is this sinigang na bangus sa kamias (milkfish in sour bilimbi broth). And how my son loves it!