Sinigang is a Philippine soup. Similar to Indonesian sayur asam, Vietnamese canh chua, and Thailand’s tom yam, its characteristic flavor comes from tamarind which gives it a sour taste and overwhelms the taste of its meat. “Sinigang” also sounds very similar to “singgang”, a tamarind soup dish from Terengganu, Malaysia.
Sinigang (e.g., fish, pork, shrimp, or beef) is stewed with tamarind, green pepper, tomato, and onion. Other vegetables cooked in sinigang include okra, taro corms, labanos, kangkong, sitaw and eggplant. Another variety is prepared with guava and is less sour than those with tamarind. Raw mango, calamansi and bilimbi can also be used. However, vinegar is not used for making sinigang sour, soups made with vinegar are called paksiw. Powdered soup base or bouillon cubes for sinigang are also used in place of natural fruits.
Thanks Wikipedia! By the way, the sinigang in the picture was cooked by my mum. And she didn’t use tamarind for it. She used lime. And it was still awesome.
