Soup and Vegetables

I learned to love vegetables from eating Sinigang, a soup potent enough to be a meal. So much attention is paid to meat in our cooking because it’s a luxury, a sign that your host really splashed out. Vegetables are stealthier, unnoticed but everywhere, the humble ingredients that keep us going. They bring heartiness to soups and stews that are essentially folk medicine, and take the lead in two of my favorite dishes, Laing and Tortang Talong. People sometimes joke that it’s impossible to be Filipino and vegetarian, but I was able to come up with a vegan Sinigang sa Kamatis using English breakfast tea, miso, and a Vegan “Fish Sauce” that you can use throughout this book whenever fish sauce, or Bagoong, is called for, or just as an umami boost.