Travel contest 17th edition | Traditional food in your country | Sinigang

Hello everyone. I would like to showcase one of our traditional dishes in the Philippines. It is also considered as a comfort food. It is called SINIGANG. From the rootword SIGANG (to stew). This dish is a sour soup but not as an appetizer but more like a complete meal in itself. You have your veggies and protein in it. The soup base is always a sour fruit and never a vinegar. Usually it is tamarind base but that depends also in the region and availability of fruits in season in the area. Common soup bases are Guava, Green Mango, Tomato, Calamansi, Kamias,
Santol, and Batwan. The protein can be any from pork, shrimp, fish, chicken or beef. The veggies? Whatever is available. But the usual are green chillies, eggplant, okra, radish, water spinach, yard long beans, tomatoes, onion.

As i recall what my Home Economics teacher said in cooking class that the Historians believe that this dish dates back to pre-colonial era hence the word Sinigang is in the native language and cooked with local ingredients. It was not introduced by the Spanish colonizers but probably from the Indo-Malay ancestors. The sour soup is also common in neighboring countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Just like languages and culture, food also get its share of evolution or transformations. From the tedious preparations to instant or readily available ingredients, from the traditional serving in a claypot to a wonderful modern plating for a 5star restaurant. From soupy to sizzling and adding the not the usual ingredients. There are more than 20 known variations of our sinigang and that includes the usage of sours like lemon, lime, pineapple, watermelon and strawberry. There is a sinigang sa ube(purple yam) which uses that instead of the gabi(taro). There is also a fusion Kimchi-nigang and my brother's version he adds rosemary in his pork sinigang.

My version, I wont be using taro because it gives me an allergic reaction. When i peel the taro, my hands get all itchy thats until the next day. Im using the not the usual ingredient which is unripe bananas instead.

What i used:
Kangkong (Water Spinach)
Sitaw (Yard Long Beans)
Onions
Tomatoes
Green chilies
Pork
Instant soup base
Water from the rinsed rice
Unripe banana

How i made it:
Rendered the fat from the pork for a more flavorful stock. Once browned, set aside. Remove excess oil if necessary. Saute in the same pot the onions and tomatoes then add the banana, meat, chili and rice water. Bring to a boil.

When banana is almost cook add radish and beans simmer for a few minutes. Add the leaves and when wilted add the base. I didnt put salt since the base has already a high salt content. Season to taste. Enjoy.

Best while hot with rice and sauce (fish sauce with red chili and calamansi). This is usually served on special occasions but it became an almost everyday food. This is even consumed even in the summer months. Yes, humid tropical countries serve this hot sour soups. You might be surprised that the sour soups has a refreshing and cooling effect on the body.

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