Cooking with E

Sinigang na Baboy (Sour Pork Soup)

This dish is a traditional Filipino food, it is best during the winter time or in Philippines’ case, rainy seasons. My grandmother usually cook this soup during the months of September to December when it’s cold especially the part of the country where I live in. The meat can be substituted with Shrimp or Beef, I chose pork because it is the fattiest among the three proteins therefore it is more flavourful.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pork belly (or buto-buto) • 1 bunch spinach (or kang-kong) • 3 tbsp fish sauce • 1 bunch string beans (sitaw), cut in 2 inch length • 2 pieces medium sized tomato, quartered • 3 pieces chili (or banana pepper) • 1 tbsp cooking oil • 2 liters water • 1 large onion, sliced • 2 pieces taro (gabi), quartered • 1 pack sinigang mix (good for 2 liters water)

Directions

1. Heat the pot and put-in the cooking oil 2. Sauté the onion until its layers separate from each other 3. Add the pork belly and cook until outer part turns light brown 4. Put-in the fish sauce and mix with the ingredients 5. Pour the water and bring to a boil 6. Add the taro and tomatoes then simmer for 40 minutes or until pork is tender 7. Put-in the sinigang mix and chili 8. Add the string beans (and other vegetables if there are any) and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes 9. Put-in the spinach, turn off the heat, and cover the pot. Let the spinach cook using the remaining heat in the pot. 10. Serve hot. Share and enjoy!

•The soup was a success! I achived the right thickness which is very heavy and juicy because of the taro that I included, you can immediately taste the sourness of the tamarind base together with the tomatoes. •The soup appears to be cloudy because of the taro, and a little orange because of the tomatoes but that’s what i was going for, it is appetizing to look at mixed with the green leafy vegetables and the brown meat. •Tamarind is a very strong flavour so I just added half of the mix, I usually use fresh tamarind but it is not available in the supermarket that I went to. You can smell the very strong sourness and acidity of the soup.

My brother tasted my soup right when I finished and he said it needs a little more sour and flavour on it. I didn’t add all of the tamarind base because not everybody likes a very sour soup but I can add a little bit of fish sauce when i serve the soup to add this salty and soury flavour. 

My dad was there when I was making the soup so I did exactly what the recipe said, and it it’s stated that I MUST throw out the water that I boiled the pork on because it is “dirty”, softening the pork was a challenge for me because I can’t tell how long it will take for a specific part of meat will be cooked but I was successful with making the pork tender and juicy. One thing that I would maybe change is keep the water that I boiled with the pork because that water has flavour in it that I can add on my soup. 

Hi! My name is Elijah and my passion is Traveling and discovering new food while experiencing different cultures.