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Fish Sinigang

Fish in Sour Tamarind Soup

Fish Sinigang is a sour tamarind soup of fish. The usual fish or isda used is Milkfish(Bangus).

Rice Water is the base of the soup - which you can get from second and third rice washing. This gives the soup an unusual white cloudy color.


The soup is flavored with tamarind juice and tomatoes, together with Patis or Fish Sauce. The vegetables we usually use with this dish are banana blossoms or puso ng saging and water spinach or kangkong leaves.

One important ingredient for any fish or seafood soup is Ginger. It takes out and mellows down the 'fishy' (lansa) taste of the dish.

Milkfish has quite a lot of fish bones so there's the inconvenience of picking the bones while you're eating. However, some Asian supermarkets sell frozen Deboned Milkfish if you are willing to pay a premium price.

YOUR FISH SINIGANG SHOPPING LIST:
  • Milkfish (Bangus)
  • Banana Bud or Heart(Puso ng Saging)
  • Water Spinach (Kangkong leaves)
  • Tamarind fruit
  • Tomato

IN THE PANTRY:

  • Onion
  • Fish Sauce(Patis)
  • White Pepper
  • Ginger

INGREDIENTS

  • 1-2 Milkfish (Bangus), sliced in serving sizes
  • 1 Banana Bud or Heart(Puso ng Saging), cut crosswise
  • 1 bunch Water Spinach (Kangkong) leaves
  • 2 pieces Tamarind fruit
  • 1 thumbsize ginger, cut in strips
  • 1 piece Tomato, sliced in wedges
  • 1 medium Onion, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce(Patis)
  • 1 teaspoon White Pepper
  • 5 cups rice water

PREPARATION TIME : 15 minutes

COOKING TIME : 20 minutes

1 Microwave or heat 1 cup of rice water with the tamarind fruit. Mash, strain and discard the pulp and seeds.

2 Put together in a pot the rice water, tamarind juice, tomato, ginger, onion and fish sauce. Bring to a boil.

3 Add the banana bud and milkfish, and cook for 5 minutes.

4 Add the water spinach leaves and season with pepper.

5 Serve hot with rice.

COOK'S TIPS

  • You can use the Tamarind Mix (Sinigang Mix)found in Asian markets to save you the hassle of extracting the tamarind juice. Make sure to taste the dish first before adding any fish sauce because tamarind mixes are already seasoned with salt.

  • The banana bud makes the soup cloudy white, too. If you forgot to get the rice washing when you were cooking the rice, you can use plain tap water.

  • Milkfish is the usual kind of fish used for this dish, but you can substitute any white meat fish or any fish of your choice.

  • The banana bud is not readily available here even in Asian markets. I usually buy it from the Indian supermarket. You can just omit the banana bud if you want.

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