A Filipino soup made of tender pork, fresh veggies, and a savory-sour tamarind broth. My absolute favorite food in the entire known universe. This is not Lola's traditional sinigang recipe; it's my sinigang recipe. It has a sacrilegious shortcuts (helllllo powder satchets!) and unconventional methods. And it's friggin' delicious, if you ask me. This sinigang recipe will make about 6 quarts of delicious soup in about an hour.
Sinigang has always been my absolute favorite meal. When I was little, my dad would make a huge pot, and we'd eat the leftovers for every meal for a few days. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I'd still be disappointed when it was all gone. Apart from visiting my family in the Philippines, nothing makes me feel closer to my heritage than eating sinigang.
Like I said, this is not the traditional way of cooking sinigang. I'm Fil-Am and cook like I'm Fil-Am. I sear the meat for a richer broth and use flavor satchets. And if you ask me, there are some processed foods that taste better than their made-from-scratch counterparts. Boxed Japanese curry cubes, yellow cake mix, sweet chili sauce, etc. For me, powdered sinigang mix is one of those things.
Mama Sita's Sinigang sa Sampalok is my favorite brand of tamarind soup mix.
Ingredients:
3 lbs pork ribs, cut into 2 inch pieces, seasoned liberally with salt (Pork belly will do in a pinch, too)
3 tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, sliced thick
3 yellow peppers, halved and stem removed
1 large daikon, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 lb long beans (green beans ok, too)
1 lb baby bok choy
10 cups filtered water
1 1/2 satchets tamarind soup mix
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Jasmine rice for serving
Instructions:
Heat 2 tablespoons of neutral oil in large, heavy bottomed pot. Sear the pork in batches, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Searing the pork will release the delicious fat that boosts the broth's flavor. It's ok if the pork is not cooked all the way through. It will finish cooking as it simmers later.
Once all pieces are nicely browned, return all the pork to the pot with the onions, tomatoes, and peppers. Cover with 10 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add daikon, fish sauce, and 1 satchet of the tamarind soup mix. Taste the broth. If you love extra sour sinigang like me, add the other satchet one teaspoon at a time. I usually end up using 1 1/2 satchets total. Too sour? Add more water, a 1/2 cup at a time. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the daikon can be easily poked with a fork.
Add the long beans and simmer for 3 minutes.
Add the bok choy and stir until they're tender, about 2 minutes.
Serve immediately with rice.
