Name: Sinigang na Baboy
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: 2 lbs pork ribs or belly, cut into 2-inch pieces; 1 packet tamarind soup base (or 3 oz fresh tamarind, boiled and strained); 6 cups water; 1 medium onion, quartered; 3 Roma tomatoes, quartered; 1 large daikon radish, sliced into rounds; 2 cups kangkong (water spinach) or spinach; 6 long green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces; 2 finger chilies (siling haba); 3 tbsp fish sauce (patis); Salt to taste

Pork ribs in a bracingly sour tamarind broth with vegetables. The definitive Filipino comfort soup.

The Cultural Story

Sinigang is the taste of home for every Filipino abroad. The souring agent — traditionally tamarind, but also calamansi, guava, or kamias depending on region — is what defines this dish. It is a sour soup, unapologetically so, and that sourness is its identity. Long before refrigerators, souring preserved food and brightened flavors in the humid Philippine heat. Every Filipino family argues about whose sinigang is better. The answer is always their nanay's (mother's). It is served at every family gathering, eaten on rainy afternoons, and requested by Filipinos everywhere when homesick. The pork ribs fall off the bone after an hour in the broth. The kangkong (water spinach) wilts into silk. The radish turns translucent. And then you eat.

Ingredients

2 lbs pork ribs or belly, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 packet tamarind soup base (or 3 oz fresh tamarind, boiled and strained)
6 cups water
1 medium onion, quartered
3 Roma tomatoes, quartered
1 large daikon radish, sliced into rounds
2 cups kangkong (water spinach) or spinach
6 long green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 finger chilies (siling haba)
3 tbsp fish sauce (patis)
Salt to taste

Instructions

1Place pork in a large pot with cold water. Bring to a boil, skim off the grey foam that rises. Drain and rinse the pork — this makes a cleaner broth.
2Return pork to the pot with 6 cups fresh water, onion, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
3Cook for 45 minutes until pork is nearly tender. The tomatoes will dissolve into the broth.
4Add the tamarind base and stir until dissolved. Add daikon radish and green beans. Simmer for 10 minutes.
5Add kangkong and finger chilies. Season with fish sauce. Cook 3 more minutes — just until greens wilt.
6Taste and adjust sourness (more tamarind) and salt (more fish sauce). The broth should be mouth-puckering sour. Serve over steamed rice.

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