Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I NEVER liked this sour-tasting soup when I was young. Maybe because I was never exposed to this type of dish during my younger years. I tried but never liked it, but I devoured what is in it, especially the shrimps, chunk of meats, chicken or fish. But never the soup!
Why? I don’t know. But as I mature and decided to try more exciting food, this was one of those that I initially explored. And voila! I started loving it! Acquired taste, huh?
I was employed in Saudi Arabia in the 80’s and I was assigned in a very remote, deserted area that was surrounded by huge rocks, rocky mountains, very few “mud” houses and several goats and sheeps. And of course, a few Bedouins who live nearby. Not to forget, snakes, spiders and scorpions, too!
But we are getting far from our soup story line…. I was assigned in a dispensary where I met several construction workers (two eventually became my kumpadre, being ninong to their kids) when they went to the dispensary for some medical ailments.
To make the long story short, most of them became my close friends. During my days off, I would visit and have lunch or dinner with them. In fact, I was also lucky to have “bathed” and enjoyed the scenery of the famous and historical Red Sea, which was an hour or so away from my place of work with them when they would go fishing on weekends.
It was such a delight to see assorted fresh fishes and crabs along the nearby shores. But they would go deeper into the sea where they would catch larger fishes, octopus, squids and other sea foods. How fresh can one get?
At any rate, since they are from the North (Luzon) area, they basically know how to cook sinigang the “Saudi” way, I eventually started to enjoy it, since this was the only dish that they almost always prepare! The sourness from the freshly squeezed lemon and tomatoes does the trick. With the very fresh catch of the day and other green, leafy vegetables added, it was a sumptuous, delightful and healthy meal by itself!
With a few questions asked, I found out that they normally use tamarind (sampaloc) back home in the Philippines. But some other “sour” ingredients can be substituted as well like guava, camias, calamansi and balimbing. And as mentioned earlier, any meat of your choice can be used as the main star in the dish, including shrimps.
To get more flavor, garlic and onions are sautéed first in hot oil. Then one can either also include the chunks of meats or seafood in it. Water is added and boiled together with the tomatoes, “souring” ingredients and lastly the vegetables. Salt and pepper to balance taste. Sili is used to perk up the soup for added hotness.
Vegetables like kangkong, string beans, okra, eggplants can be used to complete this delicious and nutritious dish. Normally, the green leafy vegetables are added at the last minute, just before serving.
Sinigang is technically a soup/stew, but with the above ingredients, this becomes a main course. And again, for me, who once doesn’t like this before, enjoys it now with gusto! The more “sour,” the better! But I personally would add more onions, tomatoes, green onions and sili for that added “kick”! What about you?
With the evolution of ready mixes, it is now easy to prepare sinigang using those commercially prepared soup base mixes. And the good news is that, these mixes are readily available all over, be it in the Philippines or in Pinoy shops all over the world! How about that?
To sum it up, one needs the following ingredients for sinigang: garlic, onions, tomatoes, souring agents, water, vegetables, salt and pepper. And all one have to do is to let it simmer till cooked. How hard can it be?
(Email: potsnpans1976@yahoo.com; Website: www.potsnpans1976.weebly.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on October 20, 2011.
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