Sunday, July 31, 2011

Kulinarya Cooking Club JULY 2011--SINIGANG

This month's Kulinarya Cooking Club theme is Sinigang...come to think of it, I don't remember if I already posted a Sinigang recipe here on my blog aside from that it's also perfect for this stormy weather we are experiencing at the moment...Sinigang weather!

For the uninitiated, what exactly is Sinigang? It's a sour soup filled with vegetables--the most common being sitaw (string beans), labanos (white radish) and kangkong (water spinach) and also fish or other kinds of seafood or meat (pork, beef etc.) This soup is made sour by sampalok (tamarind) or bayabas (ripe guava), but these days for the sake of convenience, we have Knorr Sinigang Mix which comes in a packet and all you have to do is pour it boiling water with all the other ingredients to produce Sinigang. I've been thinking what kind of sinigang I wanted to cook, well there's my favorite Sinigang na Buto-buto made of pork spareribs or Sinigang na Hipon (Shrimps) but I wanted to try making another kind so I experimented with beef. And here is my Sinigang na Baka.

There's a restaurant here in the Philippines (Sentro) that serves their Sinigang na Corned Beef and they've gotten very popular because of that dish. I wanted something similar, but I didn't realize I needed at least a week of lead time so I can make corned beef from scratch. I only had one day so this is what I did. I pricked 1/2 kilo of Beef brisket with a fork and rubbed salt on it and left it in a covered glass bowl overnight in the fridge, rinsed it in the morning and tenderized it for 30 minutes in the pressure cooker with water, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, 2 bayleaves and a spoonful of peppercorn. When it was tender already, I fried it in garlic and onion and a little bit of oil until it was brown. And this is what I used for my Sinigang :)

Oh and I didn't want to use Sinigang Mix, so I made my own Sampalok juice for souring. To produce about 1/2 cup, I boiled fresh tamarind in water until softened and mashed it with a fork and strained the juice. I can still remember the commercial jingle "Sampalok ay iyong nilalaga, pinipiga..sinasala..." and that's exactly what I did.

I don't usually measure when I cook (as opposed to when I bake) but this is the recipe for my Sinigang na Baka:
1/2 kilo of prepared beef brisket (see recipe above)
3 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 white onions, diced
1/2 cup of Sampalok Juice (see recipe above)
Rice washing (for my liquid)
Broth from the pressure cooker
1/2 Radish, peeled and sliced into rings
1/4 kilo String Beans
Kangkong leaves, handful
Patis (Fish Sauce)

Boil the rice washing, broth and sampalok juice with the tomatoes and onions. When the tomatoes are soft (can be mashed with a spoon against the side of the pot) add the beef brisket and the radish. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the string beans and season with patis (I didn't use salt at all). Cook for another 5 minutes then add the kangkong leaves, cook just until they are wilted. Serve hot with steamed rice. Enjoy!


Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about Filipino culture and its colorful cuisine. Each month we will showcase a new dish. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to drop by our food blogs and leave a comment. We would love to hear from you!





16 comments:

SKIP TO MALOU said...

I joined Charcutepalooza, a group of ladies bringing back the old fashion way of curing meats last March and I made corned beef. And your right it took me 7 days to brine the beef. I also made sinigang na corned beef and it was good. Someone commented nga na there's a restaurant there that makes it.
Sinigang na baka is something I've always wanted to try (but having said that I tried with Corned beef e baka din pala yun LOL!)
Btw, i remember that commercial hahah. I love the way you tied the string beans.
Thanks for sharing.. funny how we see each other only during KCC posts. I hope we change that LOL!
xo,
Malou

Wok with Ray said...

Corned beef on sinigang is a great idea! If they can use it on corned beef and cabbage that tastes like nilaga (in my opinion), why not on sinigang. I like that stylish-knotted long beans. Thank you for sharing.

- ray -

Pearl said...

Yum! It looks fantastic! :) I like how the string beans are tied up in knots :)

A cupcake or two said...

I must say I have never had Lechon Sinigang before. I normally just have your standard Pork and Prawn Sinigang. This is why I love Kulinarya so much. There is just so much to learn from everyone. Looks delicious.

♥peachkins♥ said...

I love those twisted sitaw!!! Your sinigang is yummy!

adorasbox said...

I like all the wobbly layers of brisket and it is so nice in sinigang. Lovely knots you've made with the sitaw. Great sinigang!

Admin said...

Tita D! Thank you for sharing a sinigang recipe! I've been craving for one the whole rainy season! :)

Unknown said...

Your sinigang looks wonderful.

Reel and Grill said...

lovely sinigang....especially the long beans...your mention of a corned beef sinigang just brought back a type of sinigang i had long ago in the project site...it's called hokai sinigang and made from canned "hokaido" mackerel...:)

it's just me... said...

It looks delicious! I love the long bean knots. Such a nice presentation.

Kitchen Belleicious said...

Oh love the beans and the corned beef! just beautiful and delicious

Olive said...

It's rainy and so cold today, I could use a bowl of your yummy beef siningang! Cute naman ng sitaw mo :)

That's Ron said...

looks great! love how u tied the beans

Oggi said...

Corned Beef sinigang sounds interesting. I love your photos, they're beautiful.:)

Joyti said...

Such a pretty dish! Love the way you tied the green beans....so pretty.

Anonymous said...

love what you did with the string beans... and yes! i now have lss because of that jingle! =)