If you love shrimps and you love soup that has a sour note to it, with a hint of sweet and savory combined, then I know you would absolutely love the flavors of this Shrimp Sinigang simmered with vegetables and tamarind broth (with taro root or gabi). You can also substitute shrimps for prawns as your main ingredient. The best part is it takes only 20 minutes to cook.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Dish
- If you are pressed for time and want a quick meal in minutes, this Shrimp Sinigang recipe will be a delight. In 20 minutes you will have a satisfying soup to enjoy as you binge-watch your favorite TV show. What are you watching, by the way?
- Imagine the flavors of the shrimps or prawns as succulent, savory, sweet, and sour. Uh-huh…I thought so, your mouth is watering!
- At merely 151 calories per serving, what’s not to love?
Ingredients Needed
- Shrimps or Prawns - Clean and devein the shellfish. Keeping the head and shells intact adds more flavor to the broth.
- Water
- Tamicon Tamarind Concentrate
- Taro root (Gabi): I found some at an Asian Food Mart. I've also seen them at Woodman's. Taro root is a root vegetable and has the same consistency as a sweet potato (yam). I used the taro root for both flavorings and to add consistency to the soup. I find that it gives the soup a little more body. In terms of flavor, taro root has a slight sweetness like a sweet potato.
- Eggplant
- Okra
- String beans - I bought these at an Asian Food Mart. You can substitute green beans for this recipe.
- Spinach
- Lemon
Top Tip
In handling Taro Root:
- Taro root contains oxalic acid, and when handling raw taro in large amounts, can cause your hands to itch. So one way to avoid getting itchy hands when peeling and cutting the raw vegetable is by wearing kitchen gloves.
How to Cook Shrimp Sinigang
- In a stockpot, add water, tamarind paste, and tomato. Bring water to a boil.
- Turn to simmer: and add shrimps or prawns. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Be careful not to go over, since we will be adding vegetables, which will give the shrimp more cooking time.
- Add the vegetables: Taro Root, Eggplant, String beans, Okra, and Spinach. Cover and continue to simmer for an additional 2 or 3 minutes. Turn off and remove from heat.
- Serve immediately with rice or nice crusty bread to sop up the Sinigang broth.
- Season with salt or fish sauce to taste.
Ingredient Notes
Fish Sauce - This can be found in the Asian aisle at your local grocery store or you can buy it online. I use a brand called Red boat - it is 100 percent pure, first press, "extra virgin" Vietnamese fish sauce. It's made from only two ingredients, the freshest black anchovy, and sea salt. It's naturally Gluten-Free. Be sure to read the label as some may contain wheat and MSG.
Shrimp Sinigang: Frequently Asked Questions
YES! Add hot peppers to the broth to make the dish spicy. Good choices are green chili peppers or Serrano peppers.
Yes! Sinigang dish is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and protein from all the ingredients combined.
Deveining shrimp is when you remove the black strip that goes along the back of the shrimp. This is the shrimp's lower digestive tract. You'll find some sand and grit and the shrimp's digested food. Deveining the shrimps prior to cooking makes for a cleaner presentation of the shrimps. And you won't get that gritty texture when you bite into the shrimp.
Absolutely! You can even get the headless, already peeled and cleaned shrimps.
Yes! Check out my recipe for Pork Sinigang using the stovetop and Instant Pot.
The bigger the better! I prefer to use 16-20 count size shrimps. That means you get about 16 to 20 shrimp per pound.
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 ½ pound Shrimps or Prawns fresh or frozen
- 1 quart Water
- 1 Tomato sliced
- 1 Tablespoon Tamicon Tamarind Paste
- 1 2 Taro Root sliced
- 1 Eggplant sliced diagonally
- 1 cup String Beans
- 1 cup Okra
- 1 cup Spinach
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- Salt to taste
- Chili Pepper optional
- Fish Sauce optional
Instructions
- In a stockpot, add water, tamarind paste, and tomato. Bring water to a boil.
- Add shrimps or prawns and juice of one lemon. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Be careful not to go over, since we still need to cook the vegetables, which will give the shrimp more cooking time.
- Add Taro Root, Eggplant, String beans, Okra, and Spinach to the stockpot. Cover and continue to simmer for an additional 2 or 3 minutes. Turn off and remove from heat. Add salt or fish sauce to taste.
- Serve with rice or nice crusty bread to sop up the Sinigang broth.
Notes
- You can substitute prawns for the shrimps in this recipe. Depending on the size, the cooking times will vary and will be slightly more.
- You can also use fresh or frozen (peeled and headless) shrimps.
- If you can't find Taro Root, you can substitute parsnips, turnips, or rutabaga.
- You can substitute green beans for string beans.
Mae
For a soup that is so quick and easy to make, this sure was very tasty! I love the addition of gabi in the recipe. It gave the soup more body.