Sinigang Roast Chicken

There’s no shame in using premade seasonings, like bricks of Japanese curry roux or Maggi cubes in bright yellow foil. Some nights, my hard-working parents needed a shortcut, and they found it in a sinigang soup packet—typically a compound of tamarind, tomato, onion, and shrimp powders, laced with salt, citric acid, and a little sugar. (To make Sinigang from scratch.) They used it as a spice rub, patting down a whole chicken, then popped it in our Imarflex