Sinigang na Ulo

It miraculously rained on Thursday; like God was saying, "Fret not, I'm still in charge here," as a reply to my incessant "Ang lamiiig naman dito sa Pilipinas!"

Anyhow, to celebrate that little rain and the unexpected reprieve from the summer heat, I decided to make broth that night. Nothing's heartier than soup when it's a rainy night.

Also, since the soup is hearty, we have a reason to skip rice. (Yehey!) Also, since Mike and I made a quick stopover at his suki at the palengke in Pacita and he bought a truckload of fish again, including the whole head of a maya-maya, I made Sinigang na Ulo.

I really don't think you need the recipe, but if you do, here it is. :)

Sinigang na Ulo
(Fish Head Sour Soup)

What's In It?
1 big head of Maya-maya (Snapper), about 1kg, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
2 large native tomatoes, quartered
2 bundles kangkong (swamp cabbage), washed, leaves separated from stalks
1 large radish, peeled and sliced
juice from 5-7 pieces calamansi (Philippine lemon)
3-5 tablespoons patis (fish sauce); or to taste
1 liter water or rice washing

Kitchen Conjugations
In a large pot, boil the water/rice washing with the quartered onions and tomatoes. When the water gets to a rolling boil, add in the fish head and the radish and allow to boil until the radish is half-cooked (semi-translucent). Pour in patis and calamansi juice and boil until the radish is cooked. Check seasonings. Add in kangkong, allow to boil for 30 seconds (or to crisp-tenderness) then remove pot from heat.

PS
1. Use the water from the second time of washing rice grains if you opt to use rice washing. The soup gets more flavorful (malinamnam).

2. You can use tamarind instead of calamansi, but for fish soups I always use calamansi to remove the fishy-ness (lansa).

3. You can also use Knorr Sinigang sa Calamansi. If you opt to, make sure to pour in the mix long before you add the fish and other ingredients, to make sure that you cook the artificial ingredients in the mix long enough without overcooking the fish and/or veggies.