Salmon Sinigang (Filipino Fish in Sour Stew)
The Filipino dish to have when with others on a rainy day; to warm your soul, heart, and body.
There’s a common misconception that Filipino food is “unhealthy”. As a Filipino-American dietitian, sure, I can concede that our use of pork belly, fried meats, etc can lead to a higher risk of various cardiometabolic diseases. And the amount of Titos I know that have gout because of diet is proof enough that our food can be … luxurious. But, then you have dishes such as tortang talong in which eggplant is used creatively to make an omelet. Non starchy vegetable. Or, think of monggo which uses mung beans in addition to pork and vegetables to make a stew. Complex carbohydrates with fiber. And then there’s sinigang, a pre-colonial Filipino dish teeming with vegetables (as you’ll later notice, it’s like a write your own adventure recipe with vegetables) rich in fiber and nutrients. I am here to decolonize your preconceived notions of health and nutrition.
Admittedly, I called my Dad before making this dish, and was met with vague instructions. This is a hallmark of immigrant parent chefs; their recipes all reside in their memories. Memories of how the food taste in their childhood, and how their parents or yaya made it. And you can never quantify memories to exact ounces of soy sauce, or cloves of garlic. It’s a feeling. I’ve quite literally asked my dad for his sinigang recipe several times over the years, and it’s different each time. So, if you want to try this recipe - I invite you to change it up and see what flavors jive better with you.
One thing that I always like to tell patients, is that food always taste better when we share it with others. The experience of communal eating elicits joy in us. So, when I made this dish I made it with a dear friend on my birthday. We experimented together, figured out portions together, and tried the stew together until it was asim (sour) enough to our liking. We wanted our salivary glands to tingle once the broth coated our tongue. So here I am sharing this recipe with you, in an effort to communally share my food with you.
Ingredients:
1 salmon filet (cut into varying sizes, some bite size, some larger like 1/2 the palm of your hand)
2 packets of Knorr Tamarind Soup Mix
3 Tomatoes
1 Onion
1 thumb-size portion of ginger
3-4 cloves of garlic (honestly, put as little or more garlic as you want)
Lemongrass paste (or fresh lemongrass stalks where you pound the the stalk to “loosen the juice”)
Fish Sauce (to taste)
Optional Veggies (this is a choose your own adventure with vegetables, but I listed some examples that are commonly made with sinigang)
Okra, Green Beans, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Taro, Spinach, Daikon Radish, Long Eggplant
Directions:
Find a large pot. Pour some water into it - maybe about 3/4 of the way full. Heat it to medium high heat.
While you do that, do a rough chop of the onion (quarter them). Mince the garlic. Peel the ginger (use a spoon to peel it) and grate or mince it too. Throw all that in the water as it heats up.
Put a few stalks of lemongrass or a TBSP of lemongrass paste. Just for some citrus-y flavors.
Have you decided the vegetables you want? If you picked: radish, green beans, okra, taro - throw them in now. (If you want to put in taro (gabi in tagalog) I peeled the taro and slice them into small discs/wheels).
Watch until the vegetables turn a brighter green, or when the taro or radish softens. Maybe the water is slightly boiling now, keep it at a low boil.
Add 1 seasoning packet. Pour some fish sauce (maybe try 1/8th of cup?). Is it not sour or flavorful enough? Add another seasoning packet. Does it need more umami to balance the flavor? Add more fish sauce or MSG or salt. Is it all too much? Add water.
If you decided to go with the following vegetables: Napa Cabbage (sliced), Bok Choy, Spinach, Eggplant(sliced into discs) - go ahead and add these. These take a shorter time to cook.
Add the salmon. This should really only take 1-2 minutes to cook.
Taste it again - refer back to step 6 if not to your liking.
Serve with jasmine rice
Share with others.
What a gorgeous, delicious piece of writing. I love this line so much: “One thing that I always like to tell patients, is that food always taste better when we share it with others. The experience of communal eating elicits joy in us.”