Sinigang with a Twist

Sinigang is one of the most popular Pinoy viand. It is made by boiling meat in a tamarind soup base and local vegetables are added. It's dish well loved by everyone. I came upon a unique recipe of Sinigang in Food Magazine (that was a long time ago). It was unusual and I thought this will never work! Watermelons in Sinigang?! Ewww.....

My desire to try new twists on Filipino cuisine prompted me to try this dish at least once. If it doesn't work, my cats could eat it :-)

I tried to sell the idea to hubby. He was not very enthusiastic and had resigned himself to drive to McDonald's if the infamous sinigang was ever to be served in our household.

I made it one dinner. Hubby as usual had that grimace on his face upon seeing the red blobs of watermelon in the sinigang. One sip of the soup, he was hooked! He actually prefers sinigang made this way now! I strongly urge you to try this recipe at least once and see if you like it. The broth will be a little sweet.



Sinigang with Watermelon
1/2 kilo beef (Sinigang cut or caldereta cut)
Water
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 large red onion, quartered
Salt
1 small pack Sinigang mix (I recommend Knorr)
1 wedge of a medium-sized watermelon, sliced (use the red portion only) and seeded
1 radish, sliced in disks
1 piece Gabi
1 small pack of Okra, (tops and ends cut)
1 bunch of sitaw
1 small eggplant, sliced in disks or rectangles
3 pieces finger peppers

Pocedure:
1. In a big stockpot, combine beef, tomatoes, onion ans salt. Put enough water to cover the meat. Boil for 30 minutes.
2. Dissolve the sinigang mixture in a little water or broth. Add to the beef. Add the watermelon and boil until meat is tender. Falling off the bone is how I like it.
3. Add in the gabi, radish and finger peppers. Boil for 5 to ten minutes more until the gabi is tender.
4. Add the rest of the vegetables 1 minute before turning off the burner.

Serves 2

Variations:
* You can use pork and beef at the same time. In fact, I recommend it.
* You can purchase pre-cut watermelon in the supermarket since you only need a small amount.
* You can also purchase pre-packed sinigang vegetables in the supermarket. It's cheaper and it just has the right amount of vegetables for 2 people.
* If you're in time crunch, making the sinigang pressure cooker will do. Although the meats seem to taste better when it's dahang dahang pinalambot
(slowly boiled and tenderized)
That night I also thrown in some miskipaps salad of crabstick, lolo rosso lettuce and some pine nuts. Hubby doesn't like dressing in his salads so I didn't make one. If you like dressing, a balsamic vinaigrette dressing will be perfect for this.



For dessert, I made Agar flan from wifely steps' recipe, I am renaming mine Buko Flan since I feel it's more fitting. "Agar" means white according to hubby. Mine didn't turn out as firm as I had hoped. I'll use less water next time and maybe drain the buko shreds longer. It had the consistency of taho but it was good nonetheless.

Here's the original recipe:
2 bars of gulaman
5 3/4 cups of water and buko juice combination ( I suggest use only 5 1/2)
2 300ml. cans of condensed milk
1 cup buko shreds, drained



1. Boil gulaman in water until the gulaman is melted.
2. Remove from heat. Add in the condensed milk and buko shreds. Mix well.
3. Pour over mold. Cool before refrigerating.