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The Sour Notes


The 'sour broth' of sinigang makes this dish so irresistible to the Filipino palate and even to the foreign tongue. It has a comforting effect to the hungry tummy and tired soul of the one who bites into the tender meat and crunchy veggies, and sipping the revitalizing soup.

The late Doreen Fernandez said in her article 'Why Sinigang?,' "... sinigang seems to me the dish most representative of Filipino taste. We like the lightly boiled, the slightly soured... It is adaptable to all tastes, to all classes and budgets, to seasons and availability."

Most of us can agree that a piping hot sinigang is best paired with a steaming rice alongside with a cold refreshing soda. We first drench our mouth with few spoonfuls of soup or even drown our rice with soup before indulging into that comforting meal.

Sinigang is a very versatile dish. This is because of the many ingredients and cooking methods that can be used. Through time, it has also evolved a lot to include innovations like sinigang na corned beef and sinigang sa ube. The meat used can be pork or beef. The use of seafoods like bangus or milkfish, tanguigue or mackerel, and shrimp are also common. The use of many vegetables is also an irrefutable characteristic of sinigang. Veggies such as gabi, radish, okra, string beans, mustard leaves, and kangkong are commonly used in combination. Lastly, the characteristic sourness of sinigang is met by using one of the following souring agents: unripe sampaloc, kamias, unripe mango, calamansi, guava, or santol. Some of the more commonly prepared sinigang dishes are the following:
  1. Sinigang na Baboy (Pork Sinigang) - Pork boiled in soured broth.
  2. Sinigang na Baka (Beef Sinigang) - Beef boiled in soured broth.
  3. Sinigang na Bangus sa Miso (Milkfish Sinigang in Soybean Paste) - Milkfish boiled in soured broth with soybean paste.
  4. Sinigang na Hipon (Shrimp Sinigang) - Shrimps boiled in soured broth.
  5. Sinigang na Ulo ng Salmon - Salmon head boiled in soured broth.
  6. Seafood Sinigang - Mackerel and prawns boiled in soured broth.
Reference:

Tayag, Claude. "Sinigang: We like it Sour." The Philippine Star, 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 31 May 2016. <http://www.philstar.com/food-and-leisure/786828/sinigang-we-it-sour>.
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