Sinigang

A sour pork broth where the souring agent is the whole decision.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains fish sauce, pork.

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork ribs, in short lengths
• 150 g fresh tamarind, or 40 g tamarind paste
• 1 daikon radish, in thick rounds
• 200 g water spinach, in lengths
• 150 g long beans, in lengths
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, quartered
• 4 long green chillies
• 2 litres water
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

Method

1. Simmer the ribs in the water with the onion for 60 minutes, skimming, until tender. Keep it at a bare simmer — a hard boil clouds the broth, and this soup is meant to be clear.
2. If using fresh tamarind, boil the pods separately until soft, mash them in their water, and push the pulp through a sieve. Discard the skins and stones.
3. ADD THE SOUR AGENT AND TASTE. It should be assertively sour — enough to make you blink — because the vegetables and the rice served with it will flatten it.
4. The souring agent IS the dish and it is a choice, not a fixed ingredient: tamarind is the common one, and kamias, green mango, guava or calamansi each give a different sinigang with the same name.
5. Add the daikon and tomatoes and cook 8 minutes, then the long beans for 4, then the water spinach and chillies for ONE MINUTE ONLY and take it off the heat.
6. Water spinach collapses to slime in three minutes. It goes in last, briefly, and the residual heat finishes it.
7. Season with fish sauce rather than salt, at the table.

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