7 Filipino Stews For All Seasons

Sabaw, sabaw, sabaw!

Sabaw (Soup/Stew/Broth) is a staple dish in Filipino cuisine. We just love the hot sabaw over rice or just the eating it straight from the bowl.

Whether it's in the middle of April heat, rainy July, or the cool December breeze, we long for that bowl of soup or stew.

And, here are some of the interesting stews in our cuisine.

1. Sinigang

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Oh, this hot & sour stew that makes your heart sing! The sour notes (can be tamarind, kamias, guava, unripe mango, or batuan) of the broth awakens your taste buds, then the flavour coming from the meat ( may it be beef, pork, fish, or shrimp) and the mild flavour of the vegetables makes sigh.

Then, you spoon some more. Now, with the meat, vegetables, and rice.

Repeat.

And, repeat.

2. Tinola

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There's just something homey about chicken in soups or stew.

If you're a little under the weather, Tinola is there to make you feel better. The lightly flavored broth made from boiled chicken and ginger, with unripe papaya and some slightly bitter greens, like malunggay or sili leaves is magic.

3. KBL or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

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Hailing from the Visayas island is this savory pork stew with kadyos (pigeon peas), and unripe langka or jackfruit, boiled in batuan. The langka and kadyos add a soft texture to the chunky pork in the stew.

This is the quintessential Ilonggo Stew.

Also, Batuan gives a rather unique sour taste, it's a lot milder compared to tamarind. The sour flavor is initially tasted, but it highlights the savory pork broth that was boiled for hours.

4. Bulalo

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Beyond the light colored broth is the exquisite flavor from the beef bone marrow and shanks that have been boiled for hours. The vegetables add a light sweet flavor to keep your from umay.

Now, all you need is a light jacket and a great view of the Taal Volcano. Then, slurp the gelatinous goodness hiding inside the bone marrow.

Can you feel your blood pressure rising?

5. Balbacua

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Balbawa/Balbacua is the Visayan/Mindanao cousin of Bulalo, but with pork knuckles, skin, tail and tripe. The semi-thick broth is made from the hours of laborious boiling and stirring of the stew over hot coal or wood. It's seasoned with sili, garlic, and peppercorns.

The warm weather of the south will not stop you from eating this dish.

Sip the soup, slurp the innards, chew the tripe.

6. Papaitan

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This dish is taking the stew game in the next level. The root word of the dish is PAIT, which means bitter.

Who on earth would like a bitter soup? Well, we do. :D

Most papaitan is made of goat offal and bile. Unlike the previous stews, that are sour or savory, this is hot, sour, and BITTER. Cooking the papaitan is tricky, it probably takes hundreds of practice to create the perfect marriage of the broth and the bile.

The bile makes it delicious. Eating this with a cold bottle of beer is just perfect.

7. Soup #5

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It's not fifth on the list because this soup the will make you warm all over, Soup #5.

It's made from Bull testicles and believed to be an aphrodisiac.

Yep, you read it right: APHRODISIAC.

Cheers!

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