Filipino · soup

Sinigang na Isda sa Kamias (Fish Soured with Kamias)

Name: Sinigang na Isda sa Kamias (Fish Soured with Kamias)
Prep time: 37 min
Total time: 37 min
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: milkfish — 800 g; kamias — 300 g; rice washing water — 1125 g; tomatoes — 200 g; onion — 150 g; daikon radish — 200 g; okra — 150 g; long beans — 150 g; water spinach — 150 g; fish sauce — 44 g; green chili pepper — 400 g; salt — 5 g

Sinigang na Isda sa Kamias (Fish Soured with Kamias) reads funk & ferment 6.3, umami 6.2 and salinity 6.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Filipino soup, about 37 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 8.1 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 1.8 / 10
Sour & Bright — 3.7 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 0.9 / 10
Rich & Fat — 1.2 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Funk & Ferment 6.3 · Umami 6.2 · Salinity 6.1 · Marine & Briny 5.0 · Sourness 3.5 · Allium 2.7 · Heat 2.5 · Sweetness 1.4 · Fruity 1.4 · Warm Spice 1.2 · Richness 1.2 · Herbaceous 1.0 · Earthy 0.8 · Bitterness 0.7 · Citrus 0.7

What's in it (12)

milkfish — 800 g
kamias — 300 g
rice washing water — 1125 g
tomatoes — 200 g
onion — 150 g
daikon radish — 200 g
okra — 150 g
long beans — 150 g
water spinach — 150 g
fish sauce — 44 g
green chili pepper — 400 g
salt — 5 g

Time & effort: about 37 min · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 9.6 kcal, 0.5 g protein, 0.1 g fat, 2.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Know your souring agent, because sinigang is a method rather than a recipe and the agent changes the dish completely. Sampalok, unripe tamarind, gives a deep, rounded, slightly sweet sourness and is the default. Kamias, the bilimbi fruit used here, is sharper, cleaner and more immediately acidic with a green apple edge, and it suits fish where tamarind can bury it. Batwan, from Western Visayas, is more austere and faintly bitter and belongs with beef. Guava, calamansi and green mango are all used too. Do not substitute lemon or lime; you get sourness without the fruit body and the soup tastes thin.
Bring the rice washing water to a boil with the onion, tomatoes and daikon and simmer 10 minutes, mashing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a spoon to help them break down.
Add the kamias and simmer 8 minutes, then crush about half of the pieces against the pot to release their juice. Taste the broth: it should already be assertively sour.
Add the long beans and the whole green chillies and simmer 4 minutes, then the okra for 3 minutes. Add the okra whole and untrimmed at the tip so it does not leak and thicken the broth, which should stay clear.
Slide in the fish steaks, season with the fish sauce and salt, and poach at the barest simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the flesh is opaque at the bone. Do not stir once the fish is in; move the pot instead, or you will break the steaks apart.
Throw in the water spinach, push it under, and cook 90 seconds only, until the leaves collapse and the stems still snap.
Serve immediately in deep bowls with rice and a small dish of fish sauce with crushed chilli on the side. Sinigang is eaten scalding hot, and the sourness should make you inhale.
Substitutions: sea bass can stand in for the milkfish; plain water can stand in for the litres rice washing water.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Kimchi (김치) — Korean
Spicy Beef Salad — Thai
Sinigang (Tamarind Sour Soup) — Filipino
Vietnamese Style Shu Mai — Vietnamese
Gaeng Som (Sour Orange Curry) — Thai

Keep reading: what funk & ferment, umami, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.