Pork Sinigang

As a transplant from the Philippines, now residing in Sydney, there’s nothing better than a bowl of piping hot Pork Sinigang, to chase away the homesickness blues. The wind could be fierce and blustering outside, but one taste of the sour broth and I’m happily transported back to my hometown and the love ones I left behind.

What is Sinigang?

Sinigang can be made with seafood or meat such as pork and beef, but never chicken. It is a simple soured broth, loaded with veggies like Daikon radish, leeks, tomatoes, taro, green or snake beans and some greens like Bok Choy and Water Spinach(kangkong). Here in Australia, as taro is not widely available, I use good old potatoes. Most often, the sourness comes from the pulp and juice of tamarind, tomatoes and sometimes guava. As with most Filipino dishes, the Sinigang is served with rice and a variety of dipping sauces like soy and lime, fish sauce and lemon. It is intentionally under seasoned so each individual diner can season their own with their preferred dipping sauce.

The Sinigang is the quintessential Filipino comfort food. It is safe to say that at any given week, there would be a sinigang of some form in a Filipino dining table. It is a very economical meat dish, as it is bulked up with a lot of vegetables and served with rice it is very filling.

Another favourite and easy to make Filipino dish is the super delicious Pork Asado.

What you need to make Pork Sinigang

• Pork – Pork Ribs or Pork Belly cut up into 2 1/2 inches
• Souring Ingredient – Tomato, Tamarind or Tamarind Powder or Tamarind Purée. Lemon or Lime can be used but the taste is not the same. You can now buy packet mix of Tamarind Powder Sinigang Mix at Asian shops (I get mine from an on-line shop called Filo Grocer) and they deliver the right sourness although they can be a tad salty. If you are just dipping your toe into Filipino cooking, the packet mix is a great option. If using this, add at the end of cooking, so you can control the saltiness. Otherwise use Tamarind Pulp (the same one you use for Pad Thai) which is now readily available from most major grocery shops like Coles and Woolies. In the Philippines, there’s an abundant number of sour fruits to choose from to use in Sinigang, like guava, watermelon,santol and the super sour kamyas.
  

• Veggies to use – Daikon radish, finger eggplant, water spinach or Bok Choy, green or snake beans, taro or potato. Taro is a starchy root vegetable and is loved for it’s sweet nutty flavour. Substitute taro with potato if not available. Although, our family like spicy, our sinigang is pretty mild, with long finger chillies added whole, preferring to serve the chilli slices on the side together with the other dipping sauces.
  

Easy as..

• In a large heavy saucepan, cook the pork pieces in a little bit of oil until pork is light brown. Add sliced leeks (if using) and quartered onion to the pot and season with fish sauce. Add tomatoes and enough boiling water to cover the pork.
  
• Partially cover lower the heat and simmer until pork is tender about 30 to 45 minutes.
• Stir in the potato or taro and cook for 10 minutes. Then add radish, eggplant beans and cook a further 3 minutes.
• Stir in tamarind pulp or tamarind powder and adjust seasoning to taste. Add the bok choy or water spinach. The residual heat should be enough to cook the greens. Remove from heat.
• Serve with steamed rice and dipping sauce of lemon and soy or lemon and fish sauce.

How to Serve Sinigang

While it’s very tempting to just dump the sinigang in a bowl and hope for the best, the reality is we eat first with our eyes. The sinigang is nothing to look at, although those in the know, knows that it’s delicious. So, make sure the green vegetables are barely wilted(nothing worse than mushy) and bling with a couple of fresh tomatoes for a pop of colour. I also serve extra broth separately. When served with rice and dipping sauces, I have yet to meet anyone regardless of where they’re from, who doesn’t like Sinigang after trying it.

Pork Sinigang

Recipe by Lola Adele

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: MainCuisine: FilipinoDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Pork SpareRibs in Sour Clear Broth

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

• 800g pork spare ribs

• 4 plum tomatoes, cored and quartered

• 1 large onion, or 1 small leek(white part only) sliced

• 1 teaspoon fish sauce

• 1 small taro, peeled and diced about 2 inches or 4 potatoes peeled and quartered

• Handful of Green or Snake Beans, topped and tailed

• 1 small Chinese Eggplant, sliced (optional)

• 1 small Daikon radish, peeled and sliced
  1 or 2 Jalapeńo Chillies

• 1 bunch bok choy, washed and halved lengthwise OR 1 small bunch Water Spinach(kangkong),leaves and tender stems only

• 2 teaspoons Tamarind Puree or half Packet of Tamarind Powder Sinigang Mix

• 1 teaspoon Stock Powder such as Vegeta( omit if using Sinigang Mix)

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Steamed Rice to serve

• Dipping Sauce of Soy Sauce and Lemon or Fish Sauce and Lemon

Directions

• Heat cooking oil on medium heat in a heavy based casserole dish or sauce pan. Add the pork pieces and sauté until pork pale golden, about 5 minutes or so. Stir in the sliced onions or leeks, tomatoes and fish sauce.
• Pour enough boiling water to the pan to cover the pork , and bring to boil. When boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover the pan partially and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the pork is tender.
• Add the potatoes or taro pieces and cook for a further 12 minutes.Then add sliced eggplants and Daikon radish if using. Cook another 5 minutes.
• Stir in the tamarind paste , ground pepper to taste and vegetable powder , (if using) or Sinigang Tamarind Powder. Check and adjust the seasoning and add more if necessary.
• Add Bok Choy and Jalapeńo Chillies or Water Spinach and turn off the heat. The residual heat should be enough just to wilt the greens. Do not overcook.
• Serve with steamed rice and dipping sauce of lemon and soy or fish sauce.