A sour soup/stew made with pork meat, beef or seafood, mixed with a variety of vegetables. Any sour fruit such as tamarind, unripe mango and pineapple is usually used as the souring agent.
Pork Sinigang or Sinigang na Baboy is a sour soup native to the Philippines. This recipe uses pork as the main ingredient. Other proteins and seafood can also be used. Beef, shrimp, fish are commonly used to cook sinigang. The chicken version, on the other hand, is called sinampalukang manok. I prefer to use either pork belly or buto-buto when cooking sinigang. The latter refers to cuts with bones intact. These are either pork neck bones, chopped spare ribs, and chopped baby back ribs. Pork shoulder and ham can also be used when cooking sinigang na baboy.
The quality of this dish depends on the souring agent. This is the ingredient that makes the soup sour. The most common and widely used is unripe tamarind. It is known as sampaloc in the Philippines. Other fruits such as guava, tomato, bilimbi or kamias, green mango, pineapple, and wild mangosteen or santol can be used to make the sinigang taste sour.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork belly or buto-buto
- 1 bunch spinach or kang-kong
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 12 pieces string beans sitaw, cut in 2 inch length
- 2 pieces tomato quartered
- 3 pieces chili or banana pepper
- 1 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 quarts water
- 1 piece onion sliced
- 2 pieces taro gabi, quartered
- 1 pack sinigang mix good for 2 liters water
Instructions
- Heat the pot and put-in the cooking oil
- Sauté the onion until its layers separate from each other
- Add the pork belly and cook until outer part turns light brown
- Put-in the fish sauce and mix with the ingredients
- Pour the water and bring to a boil
- Add the taro and tomatoes then simmer for 40 minutes or until pork is tender
- Put-in the sinigang mix and chili
- Add the string beans (and other vegetables if there are any) and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes
- Put-in the spinach, turn off the heat, and cover the pot. Let the spinach cook using the remaining heat in the pot.
- Serve hot. Share and enjoy!
Filipino Cuisine 