“I’m so proud of her!” Katlyn exclaims. Her Lola (meaning grandmother in Tagalog, the Filipino language) was always cooking and ”putting food on the table” for family, but she also worked in a hospital, catered parties, and prepared her famous crab rangoons and egg rolls by the hundreds (all while handing out business cards!). In addition, the now 85-year-old family matriarch always made time to serve her special sinigang. She hopped up her version of the traditional soup with a distinctively sour tamarind-based seasoning, endowing her scrumptious potfuls with, as Katlyn describes it, an “irresistible tang.” Katlyn’s Lola prepares her sinigang with a combination of tomatoes, beans, spinach, and onion in a clear broth. She then loads in whatever protein she has on hand—pork, beef, chicken, or seafood. In all the ways she made it, sinigang has always been a highlight of the family meal rotation. And Lola Tessie never measured. Now a contemporary Filipino urbanite living in St. Louis, she also relies on an envelope of sinigang seasoning for extra convenience, as called for in this recipe.
