Sinigang na hipon (Filipino sour tamarind soup with prawns)
50 min · 27 g protein · 317 cals / serving
A bright, puckeringly sour tamarind broth full of sweet prawns, tomato, radish, eggplant, okra, green beans and wilted greens, with a gentle heat from long green chillies and a salty edge of fish sauce. Filipinos eat it with a little steamed rice, spooning broth over each bite. Warming on a cold day and refreshing on a hot one.
Ingredients
- 6 1/4 cups water
- 50 g tamarind, seedless tamarind pulp from a block, or 1 packet sinigang mix
- 1 medium onion, in wedges
- 2 medium tomatoes, in wedges
- 1/2 daikon oriental radish, peeled, sliced into half-moons
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 long Asian eggplant eggplant, in thick slices
- 7 oz green beans, or long beans, in 5 cm (2-inch) pieces
- 8 pods frozen okra, fresh or frozen, trimmed
- 2 long green chillies green chili peppers, left whole
- 1 lb 2 oz shrimp, large prawns, peeled with tails on (or shell-on)
- 5 handfuls baby spinach, or water spinach (kangkong)
To serve
- 2/3 cup jasmine rice
Steps
- Soften the tamarind pulp in 1 cup of the hot water for 10 minutes, mash it with a fork and push it through a sieve, keeping the sour liquid and discarding the fibres. Bring the remaining water to a boil in a large pot.
- Add the onion, tomato, radish and fish sauce and simmer 10 minutes, until the radish turns translucent. Stir in the tamarind liquid a little at a time, tasting, until it is as sour as you like it.
- Add the eggplant, green beans, okra and whole chillies and simmer 5–6 minutes until just tender.
- Add the prawns and simmer 2–3 minutes, until pink and opaque (145°F). Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach to wilt. Taste and add more fish sauce if needed.
- Serve in deep bowls with the steamed rice on the side.
Good to know
Can I use a sinigang mix?
Yes, most Filipino households do. One 40 g packet replaces the tamarind; add it a little at a time and taste, as some are very salty, then use less fish sauce.
Other versions?
Sinigang na baboy uses pork ribs or belly simmered for an hour first, and sinigang na isda uses milkfish or salmon. Lean pork shoulder or a firm white fish keeps it lighter.
How sour should it be?
Properly sour: it should make you pucker a little on the first spoonful. That is the point of the dish.
Alternative
Can't fill you up alone — pair it with protein.
Per
- Calories
- 37
- Protein
- (35%)
- 3 g
- Fat
- (4%)
- <1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (61%)
- 6 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 113 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1266 kcal goes into the pot and 3550 g of ingredients comes out as about 3400 g of food: 37 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.