Sinigang na Baboy is the ultimate comfort food! Made with pork ribs, vegetables, and tamarind-flavored broth, it’s hearty and delicious on its own or served with steamed rice.
Today has been a cold and wet day, with rain intermittent throughout. It was the type of weather that calls for a piping-hot pot sinigang na baboy, which was exactly what I made for lunch.
Chockful of crisp-tender vegetables and meaty ribs and thick with the sourness of tamarind, my steaming bowl of soup provided much-needed comfort against the harsh weather outside. It was delicious, filling, and the perfect way to warm up!
What is Sinigang
Sinigang is a classic Filipino soup characterized by its sour and savory medley of flavors. It’s popular comfort food in the Philippines, usually served on its own or paired with steamed rice on rainy days to ward off the cold.
Like adobo, the term sinigang describes more a method of cooking than a particular dish as it comes with many variations. The soup can be made with various kinds of protein as such as pork, fish, shrimp, beef, and chicken as well as souring agents such tamarind, guava, green mango, calamansi, kamias, batuan, santol, and other native fruits.
Ingredients
- Pork-while you can use meatier and leaner parts such as pork shoulder (kasim), I recommend bony cuts such as spare ribs, pork belly with ribs, hocks and knuckles, tailbone or neck bones for better flavor
- Tomatoes-use ripe, juicy tomatoes
- Onion-peeled and quartered
- Fish sauce-brings umami flavor; you can swap with salt if you prefer
- Gabi-adds a starchy component to the dish and thickens the broth
- Radish (labanos)
- Sitaw (long beans), eggplant, okra, bok choy-these are the vegetables I used but feel free to use other local produce available such as kangkong (water spinach) and pechay
- Tamarind-can be fresh pods, paste or powder mixes
- Banana or finger chili peppers (siling haba)-adds a mild heat; optional and can be omitted
How to make from scratch
I usually use packaged tamarind mixes as the fresh fruit is not always available in my area. Although these powder flavorings are easy and convenient to use, nothing beats pork sinigang from scratch! Just follow the steps below on how to use green tamarind pods.
- Wash tamarind pods under cold, running water to remove any grit or dirt from the skins.
- Place in a saucepan with about 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes until soft and outer skins begin to burst.
- Using a fork, mash the tamarinds to release the pulp.
- In a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl, place the tamarind and liquid. Continue to mash with a fork, returning some of the liquid into the strainer once or twice, to fully extract the juice.
- Discard seeds and skins. Pour tamarind juice into the pot.
Enjoy this delicious pork sour soup and keep warm, my friends!
Sinigang na Baboy
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork spare ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 8 cups water
- 2 large tomatoes, quartered
- 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 6 pieces gabi, (peeled and halved depending on size)
- 1 6-inch radish (labanos), peeled and sliced to 1/2-inch thick half-rounds
- 2 finger chilies (siling haba)
- 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
- 6 pieces okra, ends trimmed
- 15 pieces large tamarind or 1 1/2 (1.41 ounces each) packages tamarind base powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 bunch bok choy or pechay, ends trimmed and separated into leaves
Instructions
- Rinse pork ribs and drain well.
- In a pot over medium heat, combine pork and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, skimming scum that accumulates on top.
- Once broth clears, add tomatoes, onion, 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 8 cups.
- Add gabi and cook for about 4 to 6 minutes or until tender.
- Add chili peppers 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 to the 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 saucepan 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 the juice.
- Discard seeds and skins. Pour tamarind juice into the pot of sinigang.
About how many tamrind pods do you suggest to use?
Thanks!
Around 15 pods 🙂
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 Ms. Lalaine. I never see the long green chili peppers at my grocery. HmWhat can you say about maybe replacing it with serrano peppers? Are you familiar with this kind? How do I go about the conversion from the banana peppers to serrano? Thanks!
HI, Bee,
Yes, I am familiar with serrano peppers. I live in the U.S. and our siling haba are not always easy to find. Serrano chilies are pretty hot so I suggest just one and try not to cook it too soft to keep the seeds intact.
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 🙂
This is so perfect. My family loves it. Thank you so muchhh for sharing.
You’re welcome:) Enjoy!
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. 🙂