the other tomato
You’re cooking sinigang and to your dismay, you just found out you have run out of tomatoes. There’s no time to go to the grocery. Aling Nene has yet to replenish her sari-sari store. Oh, what should you do?
Don’t despair. Use tomato paste.
My son said the sinigang actually tasted better than the sinigang with real tomatoes. Del Monte ought to get me for a commercial.
feng:
hi ladycess. sinigang is a fave comfort food of mine. i can with just sinigang as viand everyday.
i didn’t know tomato paste can replace real tomatoes for sinigang? let me try that one of these days.
BTW, why tomato paste lang? how about tomato sauce, pwede din kaya?
LC: i havent tried tomato sauce. kaya lumakas ang loob ko na gumamit ng tomato paste kasi sabi sa package, three tbsps of the paste is equal to 10 tomatoes - something like that. and that it’s better to use the paste than real tomatoes. i crossed my fingers as i mixed the paste with the broth.
buti success!
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29 May 2007, 10:15 amRach:
My husband and son loves sinigang. I’m not too fond of it before but I learned to like it eventually. I’ll tell Jules about the great potential of tomato paste for sinigang. Thanks and good day!
LC: oo nga pala, your husband loves cooking. im sure he’ll like this idea. Take care!
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29 May 2007, 10:33 amann:
Uy! Bago yan ah. Bakit hindi yata nagkulay yung tomato paste? Puti pa rin yung soup mo.
LC: tinantiya ko rin yung quantity ng tomato paste,should be equivalent to the number of tomatoes i normally use. ang galing no? kala ko ring magiging mukhang menudo e.
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29 May 2007, 11:22 amZherwin:
there was a time that tomatoes were so expensive i turned to tomato paste as the substitute for some tomato-dependent dishes, and yes, including sinigang. i was hesitant at first, but since the package that does not mention “it’s bad for sinigang”, i tried it and it was good. it even add some thickness to the broth and a little reddish color.
the tomato paste also last longer than real tomatoes, promise.
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29 May 2007, 11:38 amEra:
mukhang masarap nga! patikim!
buti hindi naging kulay red ang sinigang mo.
ngayon ko lang nalaman na nilalagyan pala ng kamatis ang sinigang.. hehehe. d pa kasi ako nakapagluto nyan. lutong tagalog yan di ba?
yong kamatis ba nilalagay during gisa with bawang and sibuyas?
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29 May 2007, 11:40 amjho:
try ko nga minsan kapag nagluto ako =)
what is the proportion of the tomato paste?
LC: for kilo of meat, i normaly use 10 tomatoes. so i used mga 3-4 tbsp.
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29 May 2007, 1:21 pmmelai:
ginawa ko na yan hindi lang isang beses, kapag wala o kulang sa kamatis..tomatoe paste or tomatoe sauce ang ginagamit ko, sa ginisang gulay masarap yan pero syempre dapat yung tunay na kamatis pa rin diba
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29 May 2007, 3:02 pmannamanila:
That cooking tip should come in very handy. But why didn’t i hear of that one before. could have saved me a lot of stress esp. when i dont have katulong. tomato paste ha. di pwede tomato sauce? hehe
Have I told you that this place is so nice? Very restful light green color too .. one of m’faves.
LC: ako rin e
the others have been using tomato paste or tomato sauce all this time, ako ngayon ko lang nalaman, kinakabahan pa ako 
thanks for the compliment.
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29 May 2007, 3:22 pmEli:
i’m sure it is!
that’s one of my favorite ulam!
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29 May 2007, 6:10 pmTheia:
Wow! Sarap.. mouth watering. Hehe. My mom uses the original tomatoes. I don’t know what it would look like or taste like with tomato paste. Pero sabi mo, masarap. Kukulitin ko sya. Muahahahahaha.
Link ex po tau?
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29 May 2007, 6:56 pmauee:
Hey where you looking in my kitchen window the other day? That’s exactly what I did hehe Worked well, too.
LC: no, but a little bird told me…. hehehe!
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29 May 2007, 9:31 pmJO:
haven’t tried tomato paste on sinigang yet… thanks for the tip.
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29 May 2007, 10:18 pmLynn:
Bago ‘to sa pandinig ko. Maybe I’ll try it one of these days kahit may kamatis na available.
Thanks for sharing. 
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29 May 2007, 10:46 pmwendy:
I love sinigang…
Sinigang na baboy
Sinigang na baka
Sinigang na bangus…
and my all time favorite… SINIGANG NA HIPON!
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30 May 2007, 1:10 pmmalaya:
Favorite ni Ponks ang sinigang, masubukan ngang magluto ng sinigang using tomato paste.
Hindi ba mas mahal kung tomato paste? Kunsabagay, for emergency purpose nga lang, but kung mas magiging masarap, y not use tomato paste instead of the real tomato?
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30 May 2007, 1:57 pmann:
10 tomatoes sa isang kilo ng meat? Amg dami naman yata nun, sinigang na kamatis na kalalabasan nun…hehehe. Baka naman cherry tomatoes ang gamit mo. Malalaki kasi mga kamatis dito eh.
LC: haha! iba-iba nga palang klaseng kamatis. basta yung hindi mukhang apple. mas maliit ng konti ng kamatis na tagalog. mas malaki ng konti sa cherry tomatoes. natatandaan mo pa ba ang kamatis sa palengke? ganon lang
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30 May 2007, 2:08 pmMitchteryosa:
Naku madalas mangyari sa akin yan. Saka di kasi ako madalas sa kusina, mas mahilig ang hubby ko magluto.
Mukhang kelan ko lang nga nalaman na ang sinigang nilalagyan pala ng kamatis hehehe!
Pero bawi naman sa asim kasi isang pakete ng sinigang mix ako kung maglagay hahaha! Paksiw nga ang tawag ng tatay ko sa sinigang ko. :p
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30 May 2007, 4:32 pmToni:
Ang galing mo naman! How resourceful ha, and nice na maganda ang timpla mo.
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30 May 2007, 6:39 pmmaiylah:
hmmm … oo nga, ano?
thanks for the tip!
ps.re: WW post ko, sorry, pero not sure saan yun sa pampanga. nasa highway kasi kami (on a long bridge, speeding by; well, medyo lang. hahaha) when i saw the man in the “pool”. since ready na yung camera ko, i pressed the shutter. ta-daa!! lol …
thanks for dropping by!
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30 May 2007, 10:34 pmghee:
mmmm,yummy!mukhang masarap nga,nice tip,Cess.tomato paste pala?
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30 May 2007, 11:13 pmdangkin:
ang bango ng sinigang dito…yummmmm!
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31 May 2007, 12:10 amrHo:
bago yan ah! buti naman at naging sucessful yung kinalabasan ng sinigang mo! i-try ko nga yan pag minsan!
kamusta na te?! hope oks ka lang lagi! missshuuu… God bless!
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31 May 2007, 1:23 amTikey:
Ung tomato paste diba color red? bakit hindi naging red ung sinigang mo? hehe! o nakicolor din sya sa blog mo di kaya? heheh!
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31 May 2007, 6:55 amcat:
ay hindi ko alam nilalagyan pala ng tomato ang sinigang!
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31 May 2007, 9:47 ammousey:
ubos na ba ang sinigang nahuli ako heheh…
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31 May 2007, 7:03 pmMommyBa:
paborito ko ang sinigang at medyo yan ang perfected kong lutuan. susubukan ko nga yang sinabi mo
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1 June 2007, 7:23 amChristina:
Thanks for the tip!! This is sooo very useful, lalo na sa mga desperate moments na gusto ko talaga ng sinigang
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4 June 2007, 3:00 pmRob Wilson:
Right now tomatoes seem to be very expensive again. Thanks for the tip.
Rob Wilsons last blog post..Which tomato varieties can be grown upside down?
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16 August 2008, 5:34 am