Kilawin Talaba

• 1 cup shelled oysters
• ½ cup vinegar (add water if it is too sour)
• 5 medium onions (peeled and cut)
• 2 cloves garlic (pounded)
• 5 pepper-corns (pounded)
• Salt to taste

Marinate the oysters with the rest of the ingredients for about 2 hours. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Serve the dish cold.

Misua

• 1 small bundle of misua
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1 onion
• 3 cups water

Saute garlic in oil until brown. Add onion and sauté too. Add water. Salt and pepper to taste. When the water boils, add eggs whole, one at a time. Stir a bit. Break misua into 3 inch lengths and add into the pan. Simmer a bit then serve hot.

Classic Sinigang na Karne

The ultimate Filipino comfort dish, Sinigang comes in timeless varieties. This recipe is the classic Pinoy way. Our house in Pampanga used to have a sampaloc tree and everyone in the neighborhood comes over to pick tamarind for their sinigangs or sinampalokang manok.

This is Ima Sayong’s authentic tamarind, Sinigang na Karne recipe.

• ½ kilo cube cuts of beef with bone
• ¼ kilo spare ribs
• 1 onion, sliced in half
• 5 green tamarinds
• 2 medium-sized gabi cut into cubes
• 2 medium-sized radish, cut into slices
• 3 tomatoes, sliced
• ¼ small bunch of sitaw
• 10 pieces bataw
• Patis
• Salt
• Kangkong

Simmer beef and pork in enough water and cover. Add sliced tomatoes, onion and salt.

Cook tamarind in another pan by boiling till soft and the shells start to crack open. Mash and strain the tamarind for the juice and soft pulp. Pour juice into the main pot with the meat.

In the main pot, when the meat is tender, add the gabi and radish. When the gabi and radish become cooked, add the sitaw and bataw. When the vegetables are finally cooked, add the Kangkong, ideally two minutes before turning off the stove .

Season to taste with Patis. Serve hot!

Cooking Tips!
If you can’t get fresh sampalok fruit (tamarind), you may substitute it with tamarind seasonings and mixes from the oriental supermarkets. Personally, I would suggest Mama Sita’s Sinigang Mix as it uses natural ingredients. Other commercial products may contain artificial flavorings such as Citric acid to emulate the sour taste of tamarind.

Classic Chicken Tinola

• 1 Chicken, cut into serving pieces
• 2 cups green papaya, cut into serving pieces
• 1 inch cube ginger, pounded
• ½ tablespoon fat
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Sili leaves
• 1 onion, sliced
• Patis

Fry the garlic, ginger, onion, then add the chicken. Mix well and when partly done, add enough water to cook the chicken until tender. Add the papaya and cook until it is soft, but not mushy. Season with patis. Add sili leaves before removing from fire.

Cooking Tips!
On a budget, moms now substitute sayote / chayote over papaya. But the papaya is the traditional element of our pinoy tinola.