The very first time I tried sisig was at a little eatery in the back alley of DLSU. It was a boy whom shall forever be unnamed who convinced me to try this food. I was blown away by the taste. I didn't want to know what's in it because I know that it will totally turn me off forever to eating sisig. I often went with friends to eat sisig at Dencio's, Jerry's Grill, or that little back alley eatery at DLSU and share a jug or two of whatever's on the tap beer (usually San Miguel Beer) AND then go back to uni to attend a two-hour class sloshed and digesting the awesome sisig we just had. My DLSU days are very, very, very exploratory to say the least. . . ~_^
Anyhoo, after moving to Canada I was only able to eat sisig the odd times it would be sold at the only Filipino store that I know of around the Yonge-Eglinton area and during special Filipino gatherings at my aunt's place. Before leaving Manila, there were only two kinds of sisig that I know of: Pork and Chicken. According to the internet, there are different variations of sisig using different kinds of meat, seafood, and even vegetables.
These past couple of days I have been getting wicked craving for sisig. You could easily say, I have sisig on my mind. I was salivating over the pictures on the internet and after days upon days of talking about sisig, thinking sisig and researching sisig I finally decided that I have tortured myself enough and it is about time for me to try making it myself. I need to satisfy my craving one way or another.
I remember the taste of sisig: it was spicy, salty soy sauce, crispy, and a hint of citrus. According to my sisig research, sisig consists of: a type of protein (meat, tofu, etc.), liver, green chilies, onions, soy sauce, vinegar and kalamansi and either topped with fresh cracked raw egg served on a sizzling hot plate. I rummaged through our cupboards and our freezer and found potential ingredients for my own kind of sisig. I had chicken for protein, instead of liver I used tofu (S.O. is not too keen on eating liver), chili flakes/sirachi sauce for heat, onions, lemon juice, vinegar, soy sauce, and other seasonings.
I was really hoping that the taste would be close enough to satisfy my craving. So I looked up several chicken sisig recipes posted online and kind of just winged it. And my-oh-my, am I so happy with the result! I can make my own sisig when the craving strikes! ^_^
CHICKEN SISIG ala Moody Pinay Foodie
Serves: 2
1 quarter leg of chicken, deboned, minced
1/2 cup minced onions
200 grams firm Tofu, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 heaping tbsp sour cream
2-3 tbsp of soy sauce
2-3 tbsp of vinegar
2-3 tbsp of lemon juice
chili flakes
salt and pepper
1) On medium heat setting, heat the olive oil in a shallow pan. Saute onion until half-cooked. Set aside.
2) On same pan, fry minced chicken until almost brown. Make sure to thoroughly drain the meat from it's broth/juice . Set aside.
3) On same pan, fry minced tofu until almost brown and then mix chicken. Fry until both tofu and chicken are brown.
4) Add sour cream and stir until melted. Add chili flakes according to taste, ( I used a tiny pinch of it). Add a dash of salt and pepper. Fry a minute or two.
5) Add tbsp at a time of soy sauce, vinegar and lemon juice according to taste. Fry it a little bit to mix the sauce with the meat and tofu.
6) Add onion. Adjust chili flakes if you want it to be spicier!
7) Serve with plain rice or as an accompaniment to your alcohol of choice.
I kept telling S.O. how I was so happy that my experiment was a success! The taste was so close enough that I knew I just had to write the recipe here for posterity's sake and also to share to people. I'm also glad that S.O. liked it too. He said that it would taste great with my home-made bun topped with tzatziki sauce! I'm keeping a mental note of that sandwich and make sisig after we do our grocery shopping sometime this week. I'll try to remember to take a picture of our sisig sandwich.
Let me know how your sisig turns out! ^_^
