Filipino recipe
How to make Sinigang
All over the Philippines, especially the Tagalog region
A sour soup, most often made with tamarind, with pork, prawns or fish and vegetables such as water spinach, radish, long beans, okra and tomato. The sourness is refreshing in the heat, and it is eaten with rice, often with a little fish sauce on the side.
Ingredients
- 600 g pork ribs or pork belly, cut into pieces
- 1.5 litres water
- 1 onion, quartered, and 2 tomatoes, quartered
- About 200 g fresh tamarind pods, or 2 tablespoons tamarind paste, or a sachet of sinigang soup mix
- 1 small white radish (daikon), sliced
- A handful of long beans or green beans, cut into 5 cm pieces
- 4 okra and 1 aubergine, sliced
- A large handful of water spinach (kangkong) or spinach
- 2 green chillies (optional) and fish sauce to taste
Method
- Put the pork, water, onion and tomatoes in a large pot, bring to the boil and skim off the foam. Simmer for about 1 hour, until the pork is tender.
- If using fresh tamarind, boil the pods in a little water for 10 minutes, mash them, and push the pulp through a sieve into the soup. Otherwise stir in the paste or soup mix.
- Add the radish and simmer for 5 minutes, then add the beans, okra, aubergine and chillies and cook for 5 minutes more.
- Season with fish sauce until the soup is pleasantly sour and salty.
- Turn off the heat, add the water spinach and let it wilt for a minute. Serve hot with steamed rice.
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Tamarind is the classic souring agent, but cooks also use unripe mango, guava or the small bilimbi fruit instead.
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