After more than two weeks, the novelty of partying and being a hardcore bum is beginning to wear off. To alleviate the summer boredom, I decided to take it upon myself to learn how to cook my favorite dishes. I begun my domestication project yesterday when, out of nowhere, I suddenly had this strong craving for some carbonara. With no cookbook and only my instincts to guide me, I was able to whip up the perfect carbonara sauce. Not too creamy, not too salty, not too bland, and just the right amount of herbs. I was very pleased.
Tonight I attempted to make one of my favorite Filipino dishes–beef sinigang, with a little pork. Sinigang is a sour, tamarind-based soup with meat and a variety of vegetables such as kangkong (the green leafy things in the picture), chopped tomatoes, siling labuyo (a native kind of pepper), and maybe some okra. I like mine very sour and slightly spicy and for some reason, the household help couldn’t quite make the kind of sinigang that I like. My goal tonight was to figure out how to make the perfect beef sinigang from scratch, with absolutely no MSG.
Unfortunately I made my decision to cook sinigang at the last minute, thinking I could just go to the grocery and pick up fresh sampalok (tamarind buds). What I didn’t know was that supermarkets don’t carry sampalok; I’d have to go to the wet market for that. The household help was able to acquire a few buds from a nearby store, but it was far from enough. I resigned myself to an unhealthy meal and tossed in three Knorr tamarind broth cubes.
Again, I didn’t use a recipe and was only guided by my sense of taste and the instructions of the household help. The concoction I ultimately came up with was indeed quite sour; I had more than one serving and my parents seem to have enjoyed it. Still, it wasn’t the kind of sinigang that makes my tastebuds orgasm. I’m a little bit disappointed, but I suppose it takes a couple of tries in order to develop the perfect recipe. Perhaps I’ll try it again in a few weeks.
More on sinigang
Wikipedia entry on sinigang
