What’s not to like about pork? Well, for one, if one eats pork 3 times a week or more, it will clog ones arteries. A possibility of heart disease and high blood pressure is high in ones future. The tempting dishes or by-products of pork is so long, bacon, ham, different kinds of sausages, the beloved Spam the Hawaiians love so much made into different dishes; numerous Chinese dumplings use pork; in barbecue like pulled pork, ribs; roasted pork belly, Hawaiian Kalua pig; etc.

Of all the edible animal meat, I love pork, but I will not take advantage of my situation (I don’t have any signs of heart disease) and make pork the center of my diet. This Sinigang na Baboy dish is my favorite pork dish among the pork dishes we have in the Philippines. It is a balance dish. Pork dish with lots of vegetables, like eggplant, string beans, okra, (I don’t have any on this one; I can’t find any at the 2 Asian stores I go to; the frozen ones are cut too small with the other vegetables) kangkong (Chinese water spinach) or any leafy greens like pickled mustard greens (yes dear, unlike ketchup or mayonnaise, table mustard comes from a plant whose parts like leaves, stems and seeds are edible. Table mustards is a by-product of the seed’s oil. ), spinach, bokchoy, kale, and taro root we locally call gabi in Manila. The taro root and okra thicken the broth a little bit, and with Bird’s eye chili (AKA Thai chili has less heat intensity than jalapeño) completes the dish.

A sinigang dish (like Thai curries, there are a few sinigang dishes: with beef, chicken, fish or shrimp) is traditionally cooked with tamarind fruit but sometimes it’s cooked with guava, calamansi (taste like key lime) or green mango. Tamarind makes the broth sour and savory at the same time. It is a fruit indigenous in Asia and Africa. We had a tamarind tree in my grandma’s backyard when I was a kid. When there are fresh green leaves, we used it to intensify the flavor of the tamarind broth. Other popular uses of tamarind as a savory ingredient in the popular Pad Thai, Thai Tamarind Fried or Grilled Fish, Malaysian Fried Tamarind Shrimps,  Tamarind Tequilla Cocktail, etc. 

Ingredients:

Adapted from my lola’s (grandmother) cooking.

Note: Tbsp/tablespoon – lb/pound – pkg/package – pcs/pieces
- – - – - – -
2 lbs country style pork ribs or pork shoulder, if you want fatty pork get pork belly
5 pints water

Sautee:
1 sliced onion
4 Roma tomatoes, quartered; seeded if desired
4 Tbsp tamarind concentrate, (see photo above available in Indian store, the instant tamarind broth in Filipino stores has MSG)
1-1/2 cup water

The Vegetables:
2 red Thai chili or light green long chili
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1 lb sitaw (string beans) cut 2” long – available at Asian stores or 1 pkg green beans
2 cups water
3 Japanese eggplants, sliced diagonally – boil for 5 minutes
1 pkg baby spinach or a pound of Shanghai baby bokchoy, available at Chinese or Korean stores, stems boil for 1-1/2 minutes, leaves – 1 min OR or pickled mustard greens 
6 pcs taro roots (AKA gabi) @ Chinese, Filipino & Korean grocery stores
4 cups water, for boiling taro roots (gabi)
2 Tbsp patis (Filipino fish sauce available at Asian stores) and more
for serving

Directions:

1. Place pork pieces in a 6 quarts pot and cover half of water. After first boil, discard and replace water to remove scum from pork broth. Let water boil, then lower heat to simmer until pork is tender about 45 minutes but check if in middle of cooking time if additional water is needed. Pork should be covered with water.
2. In the meantime, in a saucepan, sauté onion until translucent, then add tomatoes and tamarind concentrate or shelled tamarind tied in a cheesecloth (for ease of discarding seeds), and add water. Turn heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.
3. 3. In the same saucepan, boil taro roots unpeeled (this is slippery when raw and makes skin itchy). Boil for about 10-15 minutes. Check if they are tender by pricking it with a fork like with potatoes. Set aside when done. When it has cooled down and can be handled, peel the taro roots.
Cut taro into two pieces.
4. As pork gets fork tender, add the broth mixture, finger peppers or red pepper flakes, peeled taro root and water, to make the glutinous texture of the taro mix well into the broth. Simmer until other vegetables are ready to be added to the pork.
5. In the meantime, boil the string beans, continue cooking until beans are have darkened in color, then add the eggplant pieces. As soon as the eggplants are limp, turn off heat. Transfer the vegetables to the pork mixture.
6. If using Baby Shanghai Bokchoy, boil stems or white part for 1-1/2 minutes and add leaves and boil for 1 minute. Transfer to pork mixture.
7. Add spinach to the pork mixture.
8. Lastly, add salt, patis and mustard greens or spinach to the mixture and boil for 5 minutes, then turn off heat.
9. Serve with steamed rice.

Serves 4.

All rights reserved © The Chew Inn-NoVA Copyright January 2013.

You might want to check on these:

 

Thai Massaman Beef Curry

Arroz Caldo con Pollo y Callos

 

 

 

Read the original on: The Chew Inn-NoVA