The Philippines – Beef Sinigang

by Zayna Khan

Sinigang is the stew or soup dish in which different pieces of meat with vegetables and seasonings are added. There are different kinds of herbs, fruits, leaves, vegetables, and meat pieces are added. It is sour and tangy with sweetness and spices also. Sour fruits like raw mango, tamarind are added to this stew for good tangy flavors. There are different varieties of sinigang made in the Philippines with one main ingredient followed by other seasonings, etc. This dish is served as the main course because it is stew but it has all the ingredients that can be added to the main course dish. Many different souring agents are added in order to make it sour because this stew is sour in taste and has tangy flavors. The big chunks of meat pieces are added that can be eaten up by the spoon and fork and stew is taken up easily. Different meat can be added at the same time like pork pieces, beef, chicken, fish, etc. And different vegetables are also added to the same bowl. In this dish, we can have all the nutrients and varieties of taste that can fulfill the body requirement and also admirable taste.

Different side servings are also served to adjust the taste according to the taste buds. Like chili paste is served with vinegar that you can add to make it more spicy and sour. This stew or soup is already very tangy but you never know who likes to add more sour flavor to this meaty stew. This soup can be served in different forms. You can make either simple chicken sinigang or for the healthier version, broccoli, spinach, leek, carrots, onions, garlic can be added in making the broth of each either or all the vegetables.

There are also very similar dishes to this stew that can be cooked in the world. There are different varieties, different forms, and servings of the same stew. This meal is served at different times of the day like breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even as the starter or appetizer. This is a Filipino soup with a sour taste and is good for digestion as well. There are different souring agents like fruits and even tamarind is added. This is served hot and it really causes soothness to the body in winters and freshness in the summer. It is very light and easy to digest. It is a flavorful and healthier meal for the day. It is eaten with some kind of bread loaf and rice as well. The use of vegetables in this stew makes it even healthier for daily ingestion.

ORIGIN OF SINIGANG

Sinigang is originated from the TAGALOG. They were the second-largest Ethnolinguistic group of people in the Philippines. They are around 30 million. There are two terminologies used to differentiate two different types of people like TAGALOG are people of Rivers and TAGAILOG are people of Mountains.

There are many similar soups that are sour in taste common in VISAYAS. This is the Visayan Island of the Philippines. Fish sauce is the must condiment used for this soup and stews.

This dish is cooked by using different combinations of meat and vegetables. Fish stew is also a very delicious and flavorful stew. In this type usage of vegetable may be decreased.

HISTORY OF SINIGANG

This dish is from Filipino cuisine that is influenced by many other cuisines. The culinary history of Filipino cuisine is influenced by many Foreigners and direct impacts. In 3200 BC, Austronesians had come over the Philippines and settled in their region. This caused the impact over the Philippines by their traditional culture, Culinary culture.

There are three regions basically impact the culinary history of The Philippines: Arabs, China, and India. This is because of the agricultural trading of food items and tradition. There are few traces of Japan and Spain influences as well.

TYPE OF FOOD

This is stew or soup in which solid ingredients are indulged.

COURSE

This is served as the main course dish. For a meal of the day it is served as :

• Almusal
• Tanghalian
• Hapunan

PLACE OF ORIGIN

This dish is originated from the Philippines.

VARIETIES OF SINIGANG

1. Sinigáng sa misô

This is the Japanese flavor soup in which Miso soup is added as the base source and tamarind is added to it for the traditional sour flavors. The flavors of the dish is infused by using two different dishes together from the different regions.

• Miso soup is from Japan
• Tamarind based sinigang from Philippines.
• Different vegetable addition
• Stew has the Umami flavor

2. Sinigang sa kalamansi

This dish is the specific stew in which addition of ingredients like Calamansi and lemon for the authentic sour flavors. By the name, in this dish lemon and calamansi is added.

Calamansi is known as Philippines Lime or Lemon. They are citrus fruit with extreme delicious sour flavor must add to your food.

• Sour based soup
• Souring agents are lemon and calamansi
• Meat is added for the stock flavoring

3. Sinigáng na hipon

This stew has following characteristics :

• Shrimp meat
• Prawn meat
• Celery
• Onions based stew

4. Sinigang sa mangga

This stew has special ingredient that is Unripe mango. This has very tangy and sour flavor that enhances the taste of soup and other than that this soup has unripen mango as the souring agent.

• Pork meat is used
• Unripen mango
• Green vegetables

5. Bule baluga

This dish is from AGTA people of central Luzon region of Philippines. They used blue limes and butterfly tree leaves as the souring agent that has very unique and amazing taste.

• Lima beans
• Butterfly tree leaves
• Alibangbang

MEAT OPTIONS

This dish can be cooked with any of the meat variety but commonly used meat options are :

• Fish
• Beef
• Mutton
• Chicken
• Pork
• Prawns
• Clams
• Squid

VEGETABLES OPTIONS

• Singkamas
• Chayote
• Ampalaya
• Kamote
• Calabaza
• Mushrooms
• Talong
• Calamansi
• Sigarilyas
• Kamias
• Malunggay

TOPPINGS

• Calamansi
• Lime slices
• Bilimbi fruit
• Sesame seeds
• Shallots
• Boiled egg
• Scallions
• Celery

INGREDIENTS

• Chicken broth : 4 cups
• Olive oil : 2 tbsp
• Beef : 2 lbs
• pork belly : 2 lbs
• Soya sauce : 2 tbsp
• fish sauce : 2 tbsp
• Oyster sauce : 2 tbsp
• banana pepper : 2 tbsp
• Onions : 1
• Spinach : 1 lb
• Taro : 1 cup
• Tomatoes : 1 cup
• String beans : 2 cups
• French beans : 1 cup

COOKING METHOD

• Take 2 tbsp of oil in a cooking pot and add chopped onions into it. fry them on low flame so the onions gets soft.
• Then add beef and pork belly slices in the oil and sautee them until the color changed.
• Now the color of beef and pork belly browned, then add sauces like fissh sauce, soya sauce, oyster sauce in them with all the spices like banana pepper and salt.
• Mix them together for 5 minutes and add 1 liter of water with taro and tomatoes.
• Bring this mixture to boil for 40 minutes.
• Now add the vegetables in the mixture after 40 minutes for cook them.
• It took around 10 to 15 minutes to cook vegetables in the mixture.
• Now this stew is ready to serve.