No bayleaf, garlic, and pepper? TikTok teaches Newt how to cook sinigang properly

Screencap from Newt/TikTok

Is there a wrong way to make sinigang? Given the multitude of Filipino experience with our over 7,000 islands plus the diasporic community abroad, there are various versions of this beloved sour soup—except one without bayleaf, garlic, and pepper.

This, the Vietnamese-American video content creator Newton Nguyen, popularly known online as Newt or Milkteapapi, learned after Filipino fans took to his TikTok comments to correct a recipe he posted last month.

@newt

Sinigang 🔥💪🏼 Just realized I have a thing for sour soups. This, tom yum, canh chua 😩>>>>

♬ original sound – newt

In the recipe that was inspired by a recent trip to the country, which now has two million views, Newt added said spices alongside the usual sinigang na baboy ingredients.

The end product looked like the usual sinigang despite substitutions like the use of spinach and beans in lieu of kangkong and sitaw, a popular workaround for Filipinos living in countries where the conventional ingredients are inaccessible.

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Newt even used a popular sinigang powder mix brand. Nonetheless, they still achieved the sourness he remembers and likens to a Vietnamese soup dish he grew up eating.

But the addition of bayleaf, garlic, and pepper immediately caught the attention of Filipino sinigang purists and pretty soon caused a deluge of comments that ultimately led to Newt creating a new recipe.

@newt

Sinigang (AGAIN) 💀

♬ original sound – newt

But Newt “fixed” the soup with sinigang powder mix

The new video/apology uploaded July 4 noticeably used a different souring agent. Instead of a powder mix, he used actual tamarind. Though he got ripe ones that his fans ultimately nitpicked, albeit it being popularly used even in the Philippines. Although, in the end, the sweetness of the ripe tamarind failed to impart sinigang’s distinctive flavor and also distorted the color of the broth, Newt noted.

He also used sitaw this time and added gabi or taro per the suggestion of his commenters. These ingredients visibly thickened the broth. In the end, Newt decided to “fix” the soup by adding sinigang powder mix and the juice of one calamansi.

Newt’s revised sinigang seemed to have appeased fans. Although it proved hard to abide by the conventional recipe given his limited access to ingredients.

What other sinigang no-no’s and non-negotiables do you have?