Sinigang (Sinampalukang) Manuk

Sinigang, probably after lumpia, adobo, and pancit, sinigang is another classic Filipino dish. Sinigang is a tart filipino soup. The tart ingredients help with tenderizing meat so you end up with a really tender meat in your soup. Sinignang is great to make with pork, beef, chicken, or fish. When making sinigang with white meat such as chicken and finsh, you add ginger to mix. For beef and pork, omit ginger. The tartness of the soup, brings out the sweetness in rice,so the always serve this soup with rice.

Historically, sinigang used local sour fruits, such as kalamansi and sinkamas, to sour the soup, but some time in the last few decades, a popular restaurant chain in the Philippines used tamarind in their soup, and it caught on. Now tamarind in sinigang is pretty much the default souring agent and most people don't think twice about it.

So how is everyone messing it up? By using store-bought ready-made soup bases!! I don't enjoy it when people use store bought soup sinigang mix because for one, most brands have shrimp as an ingredient, and I am allergic. Secondly, they usually have MSG, so you end up with a fairly high in sodium dish. Lastly, making everything from scratch will always be better.  Getting tamarind from your local store, is just as easy, as throwing in the soup base in your soup, so just do it! Make your sinigang from scratch! It would be best to use fresh tamarinds, but that is hard to find here in California, so head your Asian aisle or Asian grocery store, and get some dried tamarind. See my photo to see what it looks like.

Here is my recipe for Sinigang Sinampalukang Manuk

Ingredients:
Chicken (with bones and cut up)
Onion
Ginger
Tomatoes

Vegetables:
Mushrooms
Eggplants
Zuchini
Long green beans
Fresh Jalepeno (optional)
Kale, Spinach, or Water Spinach

Herbs:
Basil
Cilantro

For flavoring your soup:
Tamarind block, seedless, wet (in your Asian aisle, see photo)
Miso paste (this will add flavor and saltiness without actually using salt)

Red palm oil

Heat pot, add oil. I used red palm, for health benefits and because of its beautiful color. Add onions. Sweat it (Cook until it starts to starts to soften). Add Ginger. Stir. Add tomato. Stir. Add Chicken. Brown the skin, slightly. Add water. Add about 1/5 of the tamarind block. Low boil for about 10 minutes to let the chicken cook. Add non-leafy vegetables (mushrooms, eggplant, zuchini, green beans, jalepeno). Cook for another 10 minutes. Finish up with leafy vegetables (kale or spinach) and herbs (basil and cilantro).