Sinigang
Filipino sour tasting clear soup with vegetables, which can be prepared with fish, seafood, pork, chicken or a combination of it as the main ingredient.
Sinigang is a type of soup/stew/meal of a dish similar to the Bouillabaisse in southern France. Although not officially a “National dish”, Sinigang is omni present throughout the Philippines and liked as a meal (with a serving of steamed rice by the side) as well as a soup.
Sinigang is perhaps the most argued recipe there is. Not only can it be prepared with all the different main ingredients as mentioned above and with virtually any vegetable available (tomato, eggplant, onion, kangkong, long beans, okra, radish, red chilies and green peppers), but which ingredient to use to “sour” the soup is different from one chef to another. Lime or calamansi juice, green, raw mango, guava, tamarind as well as kamias are all used to flavour the broth and add the distinctive sour, tart taste to sinigang, which traditionally is made with rice washing.
The vegetable based broth is “soothing” to those with a cold, give warm to those who chill, low in calories for those wanting to eat light and a full meal (with rice) for those who need a substantial meal, but mainly it can be prepared with a variety ingredients in season and therefore everybody can prepared just the way he likes it and it is fairly cheap to produce.
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