As we close out the month of October (a great month- my birthday month!) I would like to share a recipe from my most recent Thrive Kitchen at Home cooking class for Kaiser Permanente– a special class to celebrate Filipino American History Month. I had so much fun presenting with two of my Filipina physician colleagues, and honored to be allowed to contribute my healthier take on the beloved sour soup, sinigang, as a non-Filipina. This recipe was adapted from two sinigang recipes, mainly from the one I was taught way back in 2014 by Chef Pam Obieta in Manila, with a nice cheffy twist from Chef Angela Dimayuga in the New York Times (adding a lot of sauteed garlic to build the flavor base). This dish celebrates the bounty of very nutritious vegetables in the Filipino diet– kang kung (water spinach or ong choy), tomatoes, eggplant, daikon radish, garlic and tamarind. Making a sustainable fish based version (which could be made fully plantbased with the substitution of tofu) and using tamarind pulp as opposed the very popular but very high sodium sinigang packets from Mama Sita and Knorr brings all the flavor without the sodium, preservatives and emulsifiers that are not good for anyone’s health.

FISH SINIGANG

Linda Shiue, MD, Chef

Inspired by recipes from Chef Angela Dimayuga  https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020493-sinigang-tamarind-broth-with-pork-and-vegetables and Chef Pam Obieta, Manila

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 T canola oil

5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

6 cups water

¾ cup liquefied tamarind paste, from a block of tamarind (see method below)

¼ cup patis (fish sauce)

½ lb tomato, cut into 4 pcs

¼ lb onion, sliced

½ lb daikon, in ½ inch pieces

1 Japanese or Chinese eggplant

1-2 fresh chilies

1 lb tilapia filets, cut into 3 inch pieces (other good options: salmon, mackerel, milk fish, shrimp)

5 stalks water spinach/kang kong/ong choy- leaves and small stems only

For serving: steamed rice

Method

1. In a Dutch oven or heavy soup pot, warm canola oil over medium high heat and add garlic. Fry until lightly golden.
2. Add water, tamarind paste, and fish sauce and stir to combine. Then add all vegetables except water spinach and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cover to cook for 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
3. Bring back to a boil and add fish and water spinach. Boil, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, until fish is opaque, then turn off heat.
4. Serve over rice.

The tamarind I use for this recipe is from a block of tamarind paste. For this recipe, cut about ¼ of a 14 oz block of tamarind. Then cut or break it into 1-inch chunks, and put it into a mixing bowl or liquid measuring cup. Cover with ½ cup of boiling water, and allow to soften. Stir with a fork until it’s dissolved, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Pour the mixture into a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl, scraping with the fork until you’ve pushed to pulp through. Use a spoon or rubber spatula to scrape the pulp off the other side of the strainer into your bowl.

Stir until combined. Use desired amount, and keep any remainder tightly covered in a jar in the refrigerator.

For more recipes check out my cookbook, Spicebox Kitchen and follow me @spiceboxtravels on IG and @TheDoctorsSpicebox on FB. Please also visit our Healthy Cooking Website and take classes with me in Thrive Kitchen!