Sinigang sa Bayabas

Today, cooking sinigang is very easy. Souring ingredients are
already available in powdered form (Mama Sita's, Knorr
Sinigang Mix, etc) Still nothing beats preparing your souring
ingredients from scratch. Boiling and mashing the tamarind
or Kalamyas or in this case guava fruit adds to the excitement
of cooking sinigang.


We get to cook Sinigang sa Bayabas when Typhoon Santi
(Internation name: Mirinae) hit our place last Oct 31.
One of our guava tree was partially uprooted and we were
forced to harvest the fruits.

Sinigang Sa Bayabas

You will need:

1 medium size fish sliced (Bangus or Tilapia)
4-5 pcs ripe guava (quartered)
1 medium tomato (quartered)
1 medium onion (quartered)
sili leaves or camote tops
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
3-4 cups water
salt

In a pot, boil tomato, onion and guava in water. Simmer
until guava is softened. Take out the guava (leave some
if you like to eat them) and place in a bowl. Mashed and
set aside. Add fish into the pot and simmer until fish is
tender. Strain juice from mashed guava into the pot.
Seasoned with fish sauce. Add the leaves, sprinkle
salt on top and simmer for a few more minutes. Serve hot.

October Harvest

Typhoon Santi (international name: Mirinae) made landfall early
saturday morning Oct 31. Laguna was in storm signal no. 3.
Most of our fruit trees at home were down after the typhoon.

Papayas are not yet fully riped

Banana trees suffered the most

Balimbing / Star fruit got a beating from the typhoon

Daing na Bangus

Typhoon Ondoy (international name KETSANA) flooded Metro Manila
and towns along the Laguna Lake last Sept. 26, 2009. In a matter of
8 hours, its has rained non stop, equivalent to a month's supply
of rain. Until now, places along the lake are submerged in water
which experts say will go down only after 3 months.

See video on Typhoon Ondoy's damage


Bangus (milkfish, the national fish of the Philippines) is plentiful after
a strong typhoon due to the wrecked fishpens in Laguna lake. Sold for
only Php40 a kilo, in ordinary days it can reach up to Php 120 a kilo.


When bangus is cheap, we usually make Daing na Bangus at home.
Daing na Bangus is milkfish marinated in vinegar, lots of garlic, salt
and pepper. The longer it is marinated, the tastier it gets. Fry the
fish until crispy and served with achara or salted eggs and tomatoes.