Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb

This was an attempt at making a lighter sinigang, more in keeping with the more popular fish sinigang variations that one finds in the Philippines: a light, clear broth with plenty of vegetables, including crunchy curls of red onions, all the flavours contributing to the final taste of the soup but remaining separate and distinct. Most importantly it should be a soup, not a stew. The lightest sinigang riffs are nothing but vegetables and fish boiled up in water and then soured; I obviously wanted something more flavourful than this. I also didn’t want the fish to be the annoyingly tedious bony kind: I have no love lost for bangus, which you take a mouthful of and then spend the next five minutes chewing carefully and pulling the whisker-thin bones from between your lips and leave them in a mound at the side of your plate. I opted for a nice fillet of wild Scottish salmon. To keep the broth light, I desisted from using any tamarind at all.

Take a large piece of very fresh salmon, and cut into large portions. Chop five or more stalks of rhubarb into pieces and bring them to boil with two thinly sliced onions, half a head of crushed garlic cloves, an unpeeled knob of ginger, crushed, and a large handful of whole peppercorns. Simmer for about twenty minutes or until everything is mushy and aromatic. Strain the broth out, pressing on the fibres left in the sieve to extract all the flavour. Add some fish stock, season generously, and add patis and lime juice to taste. It should be quite concentrated as the vegetables will exude water. Add large chunks of radish, aubergine, and fine beans in lieu of string beans. If you like them crisp add them later, but traditionally they should be dull green and limp. Simmer for about fifteen minutes. Adjust the seasoning and then add one red Spanish onion; carve out the base so that they separate when sliced: make nice thick curls. Toss in two tomatoes, quartered. Bring to a boil, then carefully slide in the salmon fillets. Reduce the heat to medium and bring carefully to a boil again; the moment the surface begins to tremble turn the heat off. Leave covered for another two minutes and then serve immediately, serving each person one fillet and then ladling the vegetables and soup into a bowl.