Sinigang na Baboy - Philippine Tamarind Soup - Kamyás

Sinigáng, a sour soup made with fish, shrimps or pork, is an excellent contender for the national dish of the Philippines. The flavors scream for the homeland and bring back nostalgic memories. Most Filipino cooks use MSG-laden premixed packages to make this delicious soup. Not Chef Rafi. He will show you how to create sinigang from scratch, using only fresh ingredients.

Tamarind or kamyás are common souring agents for this soup.

This dish is normally soured using tamarind fruit (sampalok), which can be substituted by unripe guavas (bayabas), kamyas (pias) or kalamansi. In the video, you'll see Chef Rafi prepare the taro and tamarind for this unique Filipino soup. His unique innovation to this classic recipe is that he uses red rice from Madagascar instead of white rice from the Philippines for the starchy rice broth. The subtle difference in flavor is a definite improvement.

Philippine Souring Agents:
Kamyas (Ilocano piás) is probably the most exotic ingredient here. The scientific name is Averrhoa bilimbi with the common English name of tree sorrel. If you're in an Indian market, ask for bilimbi. Chef Rafi used tamarind in the video instead of kamyás to sour the sinigáng. In the Southern Visayan Islands of the Philippines, they use yet another souring agent for sour stews - batwan. Chef Rafi will cook with this in a future video with his Hiligaynon Ilonggo friends.

Tagalog kamyás; Ilocano piás

Taro (Tagalog gábi; Ilocano ába) is used to thicken the broth (pampalapot). Do not overcook it or it will disintegrate and you won't be able to taste the delicious soup soaked into this flavorful root crop.

Here's your shopping list for this dish: garlic, onions, pork (or fish or shrimp), tamarind, tomato, fish sauce, okra, Chinese cabbage (bok choy/petsay), eggplant (optional), string beans (Tagalog sítaw, Ilocano utóng), and non-spicy chili pepper.

And here's your Filipino phrase for the day:
masaráp na sabáw (delicious broth in Tagalog)
naímas a digó (delicious broth in Ilocano)

The fancy bok choy chef Rafi used here gives this sinigáng a unique appearance.

Watch the video to cook sinigáng with Chef Rafi.

 

Chef Rafi thanks his Uncle Carlos for the beautiful photography of the Philippine flora.