Pork Sinigang Made Easy

My dad makes the best sinigang. 

The honeybear was jonesing for my dad's sinigang and asked why don't we make it? So we called up my dad and this post today is a result of our interpretation of what he instructed. 

What is sinigang you ask? Its a Filipino stew made with vegetables, meat or fish with a souring agent usually either guava or tamarind. If you've ever had tom yum soup at a Thai restaurant its sort of in the same family. Its a favorite Filipino stew that has a sour but flavorful taste that is served over rice. 

After talking to dad, honeybear and I headed to the local sprouts store to get produce for the stew. Ideally, it would have been more authentic to go to the asian store and get the vegetables dad instructed us to get...but...oh...the asian mart...was... just....too...far to go tonight. Honeybear and I compromised next time we would go to the asian mart and do the recipe right. I knew though that we could get by making substitutions. 

Some of my substitutions:
Kang Kong is an asian water spinach typically used for this recipe. I substituted baby and regular spinach.

image by survivalfoodplants.com

Sitaw are long green beans (I remember my grandparents growing these in the backyard) I'm sure I would have been able to pick up some at the asian store but I subbed with regular green beans from Sprouts. 

image by busogsarap!

Radish - I used the daikon (which I found at Sprouts) which I think is what I was supposed to use anyway. Daikon is a radish. Don't we learn something new everyday?

Surprisingly there were no eggplant or okra at Sprouts.  Which I was slightly disappointed as I was looking forward to using them for this recipe. We could have went to another store, but being the lazy and hungry home chefs we were we decided to just forego any substitutions for those two. 

I also was hoping to find seedless watermelon at sprouts (as advertised in their weekly) but also bummed out there as none were to be found. Watermelon not for the sinigang but for me. I digress. 

The beauty of this stew is really, there are many different versions and everyone seems to cook it differently but it is still sinigang. What I may use today may not be the way my aunt makes it but its ok. You could add what you like to it. As long as you and your family like what you make, thats all that really matters honey. 

As a kid growing up I never truly appreciated a lot of the homeland dishes my parents fed us (chuck-e-cheese and mickey d's chicken nuggets seemed to be much more palatable as a kid), but now as an adult, I cannot get enough of the veggie-filled filipino dishes of our youth,  which I sense those same sentiments rise true with my brothers as well. Circle of life my friends. Circle of life. 


On to the recipe.
We were cooking for 4 and this will definitely serve a family of 4-5. 


- 2 bunches of spinach (kang kong preferrably) but I used baby and regular spinach
-  bunch of sitaw or long green beans, I used regular green beans
- 3 tomatoes (I used roma)
- 1 asian eggplant (I omitted due to lack of stock)
- bunch of okra  (Omitted due to lack of stock)
- 1 onion
- 1 banana pepper
- 1 medium/long radish/daikon
- 3-4lbs of country boneless spare ribs (cut into pieces)
- 1 lemon
- patis or filipino fish sauce (found in your hopefully-not-too-far-asian-store, or better yet your cupboard)
- 1-2 garlic clove minced
- 1 sliver of ginger finely sliced

Prep:
Washy, washy time. 
Wash and rinse the spinach, the green beans, daikon, tomatoes, banana pepper and other vegetables.

(A tip, I sometimes will soak my spinach or leafy veggies in a bath of cold water and vinegar for a few minutes, then rinse well. hopefully it helps dislodge any nasties. If it doesn't I don't want to know. Denial is a happier place).

Chop, chop...
Once your veggies have been thoroughly cleaned its time to chop. 

Quarter your tomatoes and set aside. 
Quarter your onions
Mince your garlic
Slice your ginger (not really used in this dish but I like them)
Prep your greenbeans by snipping of the ends and halfing the green bean and set aside.
Peel your daikon radish and slice into slices set aside.
You can also juice your whole lemon and set aside. 
if you have okra leave as is and eggplant you can slice the eggplant on a diagonal. 

I leave the banana pepper whole because I just want a trace of heat. 

Chop your country ribs to whatever size you like, I used bite sizes. 
Fill a pitcher with water (I used about 10-15 cups) 

Once your prep is completed the rest is easy. I promise.

Watch my video here for the rest of the story...

Enjoy! Until next time....