Today has been a cold and wet day, with rain intermittent throughout. It’s just the type of weather that calls for a piping-hot pot sinigang na baboy, which was exactly what I prepared for lunch. Thick with the sourness of tamarind and abundant with crisp-tender vegetables and succulent meat chunks, my steaming bowl provided much-needed comfort against the malevolent weather outside.
Sinigang na Baboy (Pork Ribs Sour Soup)
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time1 hr 45 mins
Total Time2 hrs
Servings: 4 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork spareribs cut into 2-inch pieces
- water
- 2 large tomatoes quartered
- 1 medium onion peeled and quartered
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 banana or finger chilies
- 4 pieces gabi taro (peeled and halved)
- 1 6-inch radish (labanos), peeled and sliced to 1/2-inch thick half-rounds
- 1/2 bunch long beans sitaw, ends trimmed and cut into 3-inch lengths
- 1 eggplant ends trimmed and sliced to 1/2-inch thick half-rounds
- 5 to 6 pieces okra ends trimmed
- 15 large tamarind pieces or 1 1/2 1.41 ounces each packages tamarind base powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 bunch bok choy ends trimmed and separated into leaves
Instructions
- Wash pork ribs. In a pot over medium heat, combine pork and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, skimming off scum that accumulates on top. Once broth clears, add tomatoes, onions and fish sauce. Lower heat and simmer for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until meat is tender, adding more water as necessary to maintain about 10 cups.
- Add gabi and cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until soft. Add chili and radish. Continue to simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add long beans. Continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Add eggplant and okra and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- If using packaged tamarind base, add into pot and stir until completely dissolved. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add bok choy and continue to cook for about 1 minute. Serve hot.
If Using Fresh Tamarind
- Wash tamarind and place in a pot with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft and outer skins begin to burst.
- With a fork, mash tamarinds. In a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl, pour tamarind and liquid. Continue to mash with a fork, returning some of the liquid into the strainer once or twice, to fully extract juice. Discard seeds and skins. Pour tamarind juice into sinigang.
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oh, I should say that the old ways of making dishes is by far the best… if making kari kari, roast your peanuts and grind them yourself…. putting rice into a hot cast iron frying pan and roasting til golden then grind to a powder to thicken it is the best…. DO NOT USE packages… make your soup base. If you have never tasted home made chicken rice soup, or ham bone split yellow beans soup compared to dried or can…you are missing heaven. My tochino brings friends showing up so they can have some or take some home as I will use a 6 lb pork butt roast and make lots….the old fashioned way
I am a white canadian whose asawa and her family absolutely brag that my filipino food is the best they have ever ever tried…. My first and most important ingedient , is love …mahal mahal
Kuya Grant, I agree. Love is indeed one of the best ingredients we can use when cooking for our loved ones!
Hi Lalaine! Any chance, this can be done with vinegar? I can’t find tamarind where I live! Or half the ingredients but I can always substitute them.
Hello Cecile,
Vinegar might be too strong for this and not really a suitable substitute in my opinion. I suggest lemon or lime juice which will be closer in taste to sinigang sa calamansi.
you can find blocks of sticky dried tamarind or plastic jars of concentrate ate east indian food stores that cater to spices etc…. they use in many curries and vindaloo… bear in mind that the packaged stuff is full of other chemicals to enhance flavor…but is no substitute for real tamarind that just fell off the tree in the provinces…Make sure it is sour tamerind as there are sweet used for drinks and candy
Hi Lalaine,
Thanks so much for sharing all your wonderful recipes! I recently tried the Ginataang Munggo and Baboy and loved it!
For this Sinigang recipe- I have tamarind paste, and was wondering how much I’ll use.
Thanks and keep on cooking 🙂
M.A.
I’ve never tried tamarind paste before but I think 1 to 2 tablespoons should be ok for 1 liter of water. I think the paste is pretty concentrated.
I am glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
Thank you so much mdm. finally i can make my assignment na. this is so informative. thank you very much talaga mdm. i hope i can cook it by myself too. 🙂 🙂 🙂
You’re welcome, Divine 🙂
Gonna try to make this for my Filipino husband soon. We’re recently married, and I’d
love to learn some of these great dishes as I am originally Polish-American not Filipino.
However I’ve had Sinigang before so I’m very excited!
I hope you find Kawaling Pinoy useful in recreating your hubby’s favorites from home. 🙂
Thank you! It indeed has been very useful 🙂 Since I’m a housewife it’s wonderful to have all these ideas. Brand new dishes to go with my new life and new last name
Have fun cooking. Like they say, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach so you’re definitely on the right track 🙂
I used to not really like cooking too much, but Hubby made me learn how to cook even before we were engaged, now I’m 23 and I cook 100 times better than my older friends even haha! It was definitely a huge change as with a lot of other things. I’m now expected to cook all our meals, but I adore it!
Hope that worked. Nothing is ever the same as mom’s but…Good on you!!
I love hove you know all the ingredients and instructions I hope I will find all of your Filipino dishes
Thank you so much, Jessi. You can find all of Kawaling Pinoy’s recipes here http://www.kawalingpinoy.com/recipe-index/
Hello Lalaine,
The pork sinigang you shared with us is wonderful. Same ingredients like mine. One thing only, is the bokchoy a substitute for some other unavailable Pinoy veges?
I’d like to share my ‘accidental’ sinigang na baboy procedure. I was so engrossed in surfing the world wide web almost forgetting that I got something started in the kitchen. It was a mix of tomatoes, onions and a mini stub of peeled ginger boiling in 2 cups of water for almost an hour! The tomatoes, ginger and onion died in their second death of the day. Mushed, mangled and almost unidentifiable. That did not stop me from tossing the whole mini taros and quarter rack of pork ribs. It’s sayang for me.
I tell you, it was like dining in my favorite Max’s and Barrio Fiesta sinigang versions. The broth flavor was deeper and the ribs tasted richer.
I’ve saved a few of your recipes so I could try it offline. Thereby, I could cooks without a disaster as second accidents are not always a repeat of my sinigang ‘mis’adventure. Cheers and more wishes to your new walk from a 9-5 ‘walking dead’ days. *Joke*
Marge
Although I have enjoyed this dish practically all my life it will be my first time making it for dinner tonight, since our favorite cook in the house (mom) is on vacation. Thank you for sharing your recipe! Praying I don’t mess it up somehow ;p
You’ll be just fine 🙂
I just finished making this. I’ve never had sinigang before, but I have many Filipino friends who are always craving it. I don’t have anything to compare this recipe to, but it is so delicious! I will be making it again and again.
Awesome!!!
Thanks so much for this! It’s the closest recipe to how my family cooks sinigang at home 🙂 I’m going to try and do it myself now ^^
Hi Sandy
Please let me know how it turned out 🙂
I just had this soup at a small market and loved it- this recipe looks almost exact!
Thank you!
Thanks, Trina. I hope you give sinigang a try at home, it’s very easy to make 🙂
Look so good! Thank you for sharing this one of my favorite filipino recipe. Cheers!
Hello Ericka
Sinigang is my favorite, too. In fact it was my lunch today or I should say, my lunch and dinner today 🙂
One of my favorite dish, 2nd is adobong manok! Thanks for sharing it.
You’re welcome, She. Happy cooking!
This website looks class!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much. 🙂