Sinantolan

Grated santol rind squeezed repeatedly to take the sourness down, then cooked in coconut milk.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork, shrimp paste.

Ingredients

8 santol fruit
400 ml coconut milk
250 g pork belly, in small dice
2 tablespoons shrimp paste
40 g fresh ginger, in matchsticks
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 siling labuyo, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
0.5 teaspoon black pepper

Method

THE RIND IS THE DISH AND THE SEEDS ARE THROWN AWAY. Peel the santol, cut the thick white rind away from the seed-cluster in the middle, and use only the rind. The pulp round the seeds is sour and slimy and there is very little of it.
GRATE THE RIND AND THEN SQUEEZE IT THREE TIMES, in fresh water each time, wringing it hard in your hands. Santol is aggressively sour and astringent and the water that comes out is cloudy and sharp. One squeeze is not enough; by the third the rind tastes pleasantly tart instead of making your mouth pucker.
Taste it after the third squeeze. If it is still harsh, squeeze again -- this is the only step that decides whether the dish is edible.
Squeeze it as dry as you can at the end. Water left in it thins the coconut milk.
Fry the pork in the oil, 8 minutes, until the fat has run and the dice have browned.
Ginger, garlic and onion in, 4 minutes. Shrimp paste in, pressed against the pan, 2 minutes until it darkens.
Santol in, turned through for 3 minutes.
Coconut milk in. Simmer uncovered 20 to 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the rind has gone soft and the milk has reduced to a thick clinging mass rather than a sauce.
Chillies and pepper in at the end. It should be thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes