Rich and luxurious sinigang na salmon features salmon belly and fillets simmered in a tangy, savory tamarind broth.
In the world of comforting soups, sinigang—the tangy, savory soup brightened by sour fruits—ranks first for many Filipinos. Sinigang balances tender meat or seafood with assorted vegetables, making it a nutritious and satisfying staple in many households.
Salmon elevates your everyday sinigang into a dish fit for celebrations—even if you’re just using instant sinigang mix. The buttery, delicately flavored fish, complemented by bitter mustasa (mustard greens), drinks up the sour sinigang broth beautifully.
Sinigang is a beloved Filipino dish of meat or fish cooked in a sour broth. Traditionally, the broth gets its acidity from sour-tasting fruit or leaves like kamias, sampalok, calamansi, and dayap. Nowadays, most home cooks use instant sinigang mix for convenience. Sinigang is served with hot rice, sometimes with bagoong and grilled meat or fish.
When making sinigang na isda, many home cooks default to bangus (milkfish) for its tender meat and flavor. Tilapia, another popular choice, has firm, dense meat that holds well in a soup. For fish with a more assertive flavor, and make excellent options.
Salmon—pronounced with a hard L if you’re Filipino!—brings a luxurious touch to your everyday sinigang. This recipe uses salmon belly, an inexpensive and often overlooked cut, mixed with salmon fillets. Together, the combo yields a good balance of fatty and meaty bites.
How sour should sinigang be? Up to you! Some like a mildly sour soup, while others like an aggressive, face-scrunching wallop of acidity. Keep tasting your sinigang during the cooking process, and adjust the amount of instant sinigang mix as needed.
Don’t feel limited to instant sinigang mix, either! While it forms the base of our broth, you can use many other ingredients to make it more sour. And anything—we mean anything—sour is fair game. Try unripe fruit like mangoes or pineapple, or citrus fruits like calamansi or lime. Vinegar in any form is straightforward and always effective. Maybe a sour pickle, like kimchi?
Some sinigang na salmon recipes use miso, or fermented soybean paste—a rare instance of Japanese influence in Filipino cooking. It gives the broth a creamy color and a mild nuttiness. If you have some miso on hand, you can toast a spoonful of it after sautéeing tomatoes and onions, and before adding water to make the broth.
Make soup base: Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and tomatoes are jammy. Add water and instant sinigang mix to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Continue cooking, stirring to dissolve the sinigang mix, until soup has slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Taste and adjust the soup to your preferred acidity; add more instant sinigang mix if you want a more tangy flavor. Season the soup with patis.
Cook vegetables: Add labanos, okra, and siling pangsigang to the soup. Cover pot and cook until vegetables have softened, about 5–6 minutes.
Cook salmon and mustasa: Add salmon fillets, salmon belly, and mustasa to the pot. Cover and cook until salmon is delicately cooked through, about 3–4 minutes.
Serve: Transfer sinigang to a big serving bowl, or divide between smaller, individual bowls. Serve with hot rice and a side of bagoong guisado.
