could've should've would've

Some people, when the going gets tough, find solace in meditation, the encouragement of friends, the fact that their lives aren't as frakked up as Charlie Sheen's . . . me, I find comfort in the warm, soothing glow of television. Could you tell that I've been watching Battlestar Galactica? And it's a good thing there's been Top Chef All-Stars to cheer me up every week! Well, except for that time a couple weeks ago they kicked off my personal favorite and fellow countryman Dale T. That was sadder than sad.

The week after he got pack-your-knife-and-go'd by Padma, they had an Ellis Island-themed challenge in which they asked each chef to draw upon their family history to cook a dish that tells the story of their ancestry. Oh, I cried. Dale would've totally killed it in this challenge, and Filipino food could've used the good publicity.

What would he have cooked?

Man, that would've been the best thing ever.

I've been thinking about what I would've made, and right now, I'd have to say sinigang. . . a rich and sour tamarind-based soup my mother would usually make with pork or beef, sometimes shrimp, and loaded with leafy greens, eggplant, sitaw (long Chinese green beans), and my favorite part, Daikon radish and gabi (taro). I have good memories of this dish—it reminds me of home. Very satisfying, belly-warming stuff, and I'd say a good representative of true native cuisine due to its use of the indigenous tamarind.

What would you have made?