Day 8: Sinigang na Baboy

Whenever I have sinigang, I always end up overeating. I can't help but reach out to the rice bowl for seconds. The delicious tart flavor of the soup that contrasts with the saltiness of the patis requires more than your usual modest scoop of rice. There are many variants of sinigang and for this recipe, I made the most common i.e. Sinigang na Baboy sa Sampalok.

Being an urbanite certainly has its conveniences, one of them being that you won't have to slave too long in the kitchen to come up with delicious comfort food. In Manila where I live, it's no longer a crime to make use of packed mixes and preparations to expedite cooking; in fact, it is more the norm these days to avail of packaged mixes, pastes, concentrates & powders rather than make the tamarind soup from scratch. But if you're a stickler for slow-food cooking, just boil a third of a kilo of unripe tamarind fruits in water till the pulp gets soft & mushy when you pierce it with a fork. Pass the tamarind fruit through a seive and try to get as much pulp as you can, removing the skin and the seeds. This is what you'll be using to flavor your soup.

But for this sinigang, I used tamarind powder. There are lots to choose from at the grocery so choose your brand and just follow the instructions as seen on the package. What I do, however, is choose the add-ins well.

I use a kilo of pork bones to add extra flavor to the soup and add half a kilo of pork cubes with a good amount of fat ( I use liempo). I simmer the pork bones and meat with an onion that has been quartered and two (2) tomatoes that have been halved; I also add about two (2) pieces of green finger chilis and four (4) bulbs of gabi that have been cleaned, peeled & cut into the size of the pork cubes. When the pork is almost done, I then add the sinigang mix. I also add two (2) eggplants that have been sliced thick diagonally. When the pork and the vegetables are tender, I add a bunch of kangkong leaves with their stems. I reduce the heat to a simmer until the vegetables are done. I also add patis for more flavor.