Thread by @SpriterGors

Tonight's adventure: Gors's sini gang

Click on this thread to read more!

For those who don't know, I'm a person who enjoys cooking. I'm always trying different recipes, so that I can expand my horizons in culinary and practice my cooking skills.

My amazing friend @Kitisplode suggested me a dish from the Phillipines, the "sini gang". It is basically a soup with an unlikely ingredient: tamarind. It's a sour fruit that is mostly made into juice in Brazil, so the idea of cooking a savory dish with it seemed intriguing to me.

So I spent the whole afternoon trying to extract the pulp from the pods. I soaked them in warm water and left it for 2 hours before straining them with a sieve. The visuals... Well, I won't pull my punches, it looks like poop.

After making the pulp, I started the cooking. My friend told me that it's eaten with rice, so I started cooking a fresh batch.

As the rice cooked, I started to work on the soup. Usually, people make it easily with pre-made sini gang seasoning, but since that's sold on specific shops, I had to do everything from scratch. I took that as a challenge and started with the basics.

The first step was to sauté the onions and garlic. It's a perfect pair, to be honest. I waited until it became soft and kinda transparent.

As the onions fried, I peeled a piece of ginger and prepared the spinach. Ginger gives out an amazing aroma as well so I was looking forward to the final result. I decided to dice the hard spinach stalks to put in the soup as well - I hate to throw edible things away.

Diced pork cubes added. I added a little bit of miso paste as well to bring out the umami flavor as well. My mouth was watering already!

Tomato and the spinach stalks added. Since they are fibrous and hard, I decided to stir fry with other ingredients before adding water. The mix of colors is very pleasing to the eyes! I love it.

Water added, just enough to cover all ingredients. I added some salt, black pepper and beef broth powder to correct the amount of salt. I left it simmering, as I tended to the rice pot. It cooked deliciously!

As the ingredients simmered, I added the tender spinach leaves. Since they take less time to cook, it proved to be a smart idea to dice and sauté the stalks separately.

Spinach is somewhat disappointing, because it shrinks when you prepare it. So even if you buy a beautiful bundle of fresh spinach, it'll probably end up as a tiny plate in the end. At least, it tastes good...

And of course, I didn't forget the tamarind. I added the pulp last, with a tiny vit of vinegar to make it pack a little more punch. It took me an entire afternoon to process the pulps so I didn't want to use them all right away...
(This still looks like wet poop though)

This is the final result! It's my own "sini gang-inspired dish". Definitely it's not the real deal and I didn't have the correct ingredients, but I did the best with the things I had, and honestly... it smells great.

As a Japanese person, I tried eating it as miso soup, along with rice. The acidity goes surprisingly well with the ingredients, the stalks and leaves are tender but with a pleasant texture, and the broth is marvelous. The pork goes well with this soup!

Verdict: it was a fun experience and an amazing recipe. If this version, which was made from scratch and by someone without experience with Phillipines's rich cuisine, tastes so good, I imagine how the real deal tastes like!

Additionally, it's always good to try something new. It's risky, but it really pays off. @Kitisplode's support and my research allowed me to learn a bit more about their culture and broadened my horizons further. I am thoroughly satisfied. Even my mom enjoyed it!

Finally, always try using the most of your ingredients. It's a shame to throw perfectly edible things away. I'm glad that I used the stalks intelligently. It's easy to take food for granted if you eat pre-made dishes, but someone out there had to work to make it reach your plate.

To use the most of the ingredients is to be grateful for the work the farmers and workers put into. Please try cooking something yourself, and enjoy how these little things add up. It will definitely be a positive experience.