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Let’s talk about the two most-loved dishes of the Filipinos
Osan Fernando · Follow
Adobo is considered as the national dish of the Philippines and Sinigang as the unofficial national dish.
Did I confuse you?
They are two of the most-loved local dishes of the Filipinos. They are always present at our dining table. But there should only be one for the title, right? Team sinigang protested.
Both can be cooked in various ways. The ingredients vary too. But still, when the pot boils, it boils down to one. Being sinigang and being adobo.
Taste Atlas had named Sinigang as the world’s best vegetable soup.
The sour soup they had voted has the following ingredients: sampalok (fruits of the tamarind tree), water spinach, green pepper, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, diced tomatoes, sliced onions, ginger, green beans, water, oil, and salt.
It had beaten the famous ones like- Turkey’s Mercimek Corbasi and Lithuanian Saltibarsciai.
At first, we joked about the reason it had won was that it was the easiest one to pronounce. A simple si-ni-gang. Can Borscht, Quibebe and Zeleninova Polevka compete with si-ni-gang?
Kidding aside, it’s really good. As long as it is cooked according to your taste preference and as long as you like something sour.
Sinigang is a dish consisting of meat (fish or pork or beef or shrimp) and any of the following vegetables (string beans, mustard, eggplant, okra, onion, ginger, radish, taro), chili, tomato, and the souring agent.
The source of the sourness is either tamarind, mango, bayabas/guava, strawberry, miso, kamias/ averrhoa bilimbi, santol/cotton fruit and calamansi/ calamondin. Lemongrass and rosemary can be added too. And water.
It can be all plain vegetables like the one that won.
My kind of sinigang is sour and spicy….and fish only. The spicier the better.
Using tamarind from scratch is a tedious one. Likewise with finding the other souring agent. There are many available sinigang mix in the market to be used. And that’s what I am using.
Cooking the dish is next to a fast food dish. Just toss everything in a pot. Then wait until it’s cooked. Or for fish, just wait until it boils. For those who aren’t the queen of the kitchen, meaning -not fond of cooking (like me), sinigang is our best friend.
Adobo
This is another confusion. Is adobo the name of the dish or a manner of cooking or what?
Adobo came from the Spanish word adobar meaning marinade. A Spaniard during Spain’s colonization of the country changed the name of the local dish kilaw, to adobo. In Caribbean cooking, it is a seasoning. In the Philippines, it is both a cooking technique and a dish. As they say, Adobo is both a noun and a verb.
To distinguish it from the rest of the world’s adobo, it is now called Philippine adobo.
The recipe varies from one region to another, from one kitchen to another and from one taste bud to another.
Adobo consists of pork or chicken or squid, soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorn, bay leaf, and garlic. Boiled eggs and potatoes can be added too. Vegans can have string beans and still taste good.
Adobo can be cooked as a soupy one, with thick sauce, oily (from the fat of the meat), sweet, vinegary, spicy, dried and flaky, soy sauce taste, with little or no vinegar.
Government’s Intervention
The Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) unveiled plans to standardize adobo to make it easier to promote internationally as well as to keep the cultural identity. Aiming to define a basic traditional recipe.
In doing so, people can determine and maintain the authentic Filipino Adobo even in an international setting.
A simple issue but a difficult one to resolve for every region claiming that theirs should be the one.
In our home
My mother had her own version the soupy one) and my paternal grandmother had her own the Kilaw, which is vinegar-braised).
Honestly, I don’t like my grandmother’s recipe.
And I have my version:
Chicken, chicken’s liver and heart, soy sauce, peppercorn, paprika, bay leaf, oyster sauce, butter, and cheese.
For so many years, I didn’t eat adobo. Imagine eating it since the time I could eat solid food. I need a break!
After 10 years, we are back in each other’s company.
Like sinigang, adobo is next to a fast food dish. Toss everything in a pot and when the meat is cooked, it’s done. Unless you want the other versions – reduce it until oily and flaky.
Am I Team Sinigang or Team Adobo?
I’m Team Sinigang. Why? Because despite the variety of ingredients and souring agent, it retained its taste as sour. It is consistent.
While adobo… It is nakaka-umay, because of the fat from the meat. I can’t find the right English word for umay. Cloy is the nearest one.
Umay is the other reason for our break-up. Reinventing the recipe led to our reconciliation😁
