Welcome to week three of the month of firsts !
Does any of you have a significant other? I do. I have been married to him for four years. Before we got married, we dated each other as boyfriend and girlfriend for two years. It was during this period when I first got to meet my now biyenans.
Here in the Philippines, one of the significant milestones in a relationship is the part when you meet the parents. For me, this happened in 2005. Jayson took me to their ancestral house in Sta. Cruz, Laguna at around September (?) for the 2005 Annilag. The Annilag is an annual festival that celebrates and showcases the history, people, products and culture of the various cities and municipalities of Laguna. This event happens at the Laguna Capitol which is at Sta. Cruz.
Before going to the festival, we had lunch at Jayson's home. And yes, my now mother-in-law served sinigang. I was not a fan of sinigang until that day. Of course I've had sinigang on other prior occasions, but in no other instance did I want to have sinigang more often until I tasted mommy's. Napakanin talaga ako ! Pretending not to have a big appetite is difficult faced with "the sinigang".
Upon my first sip of her sinigang broth, this picture (kidding aside) appeared on my mind: sand at my feet, hot salty wind, sunny skies, coconut trees and waves. This has since become my perfect beach food!
Mommy brags, “lahat ng tumikim ng sinigang ko, yun at yun ang hinahanap.” I agree. Each time I visit her at Sta Cruz, she knows she’d have to cook sinigang for me. I need not tell her. She knows that I have been captured in her sinigang spell. Indeed.
You’ll need:
- 1/2 kilo shrimps
- Patis, No salt needed!
- 1 medium Onion, peeled and halved
- 2 Tomatoes, quartered.
- Kangkong leaves and tender stalks
- String Beans cut in two inch proportions.
- Radish, peeled and chopped
- Okra (lady’s finger), halved
- Sinigang Mix – to save time. If time is in your hands though, I’ll show you the longer version of making sour broth at the P.S. part of this post.
How to:
- In a pot, combine rice water, onion and tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat. Add the shrimps
- Cook covered for about 15 minutes or until shrimps turn orange, stirring occasionally
- Add sinigang mix and patis – adjust till it suits your taste. Simmer for 2 minutes
- Add the, Okra and Radish. Cook for 3 minutes
- Turn off the heat. Add the Kangkong and sitaw. Cover for 2 minutes
Best served on a Sunday at lunch when the family is all together. Serve with steaming white rice and ice cold coca cola. ;)
This is a great appetite inducer even if you are not hungry. To those of you who have lazy eaters to feed, serve sinigang ! At home, I swear, dieting is not an option when we have sinigang. Joey, my brother, who is health and weight-conscious, loves it. He ditches healthy eating and opts for rice, rice and rice when I cook this dish. He makes up for it by jogging with cotton, my dog.
Go on, cook it. Watch the sweat drip off your loved ones’ foreheads as they enjoy this ulam while it’s hot. Watch the rice disappear from the kaldero !!! Satisfaction guaranteed.
A dip/Sawsawan consisting of patis, calamansi and siling labuyo is an option.
Who says you have to spend for a great meal? This dish costs about P200.00 all in. It can feed 4 hungry people. So get your cooking gear out and start the fire.
Your hot cook,
Hahan
P.S. You want to make sinigang in not the instant way?
Here it is:
- boil about a kilo of sampaloc (for ½ kilo of shrimp) in a pot.
- After boiling, turn off the heat and let it cool for about an hour.
- Once cooled, squeeze the sampaloc (pigain). Extract the fleshy sampaloc meat, discard the peeling and seeds
- Add the sampaloc extract to the rice water
- Follow all the other instructions above sans the part where you add the sinigang mix.
Voila!
