This Classic Filipino Comfort Soup Tastes Like Home

As a little girl growing up in the Philippines, my kitchen duty was to prepare unripe tamarind for pork sinigang stew. The tamarinds were from the tree in our backyard, and my mother simmered them in water. With my little hands, I placed the peeled, light green tamarinds into a sieve and pressed them with a fork till the pulp was a creamy mush. Mom poured more hot water over the mashed tamarind, and this was added to the stockpot bubbling away with the meat.

Soon, a soft aroma of pork simmering with tomatoes and onions came from the steam floating around the kitchen. The tamarind intensified the piercing, tart smells around us. A cauldron of steamed white rice was by the side burner, ready to accompany the savory pork sinigang. This tangy, rich soup was one of my father’s favorite dishes, and my mother made it for him often.

What Is Pork Sinigang?

Pork sinigang, or sinigang na baboy, is a Filipino stew of pork cubes cooked in clear broth flavored with a souring agent like tamarind. As with most Philippine dishes, a variety of backyard vegetables are also added to the broth. I love that it’s a one-pot meal that’s full of protein and vegetables to feed my family. The savory, sour, and spicy ingredients mingle in a tart, clear broth that pairs well with the simplicity of rice, a staple in Filipino meals.

There are different kinds of sinigang stews. Aside from pork, beef cubes or seafood like fish fillets or shellfish can be added, or you can make it entirely vegetarian. Fresh, green, unripe tamarind pods are the most common souring agents.

The Key Ingredients (and Easy Swaps)

Sourness is a key feature of many Filipino foods, and the flavor of tamarind is essential to bringing sourness to this soup. Like most mothers in a hurry to put dinner on the table, I have simplified the cooking process for my version of sinigang. In place of fresh tamarind, I use instant powdered tamarind soup mix from brands like Knorr or Mama Sita, which you can order online or find at Asian grocery stores.

For the protein, a combination of pork belly and pork shoulder bring richness and heft to this stew. If either or both are not available, use pork ribs, sliced individually. You can also use pork loin or pork chops (with fat marbling), cut into 2-inch pieces, if need be. Aside from pork, you can also substitute with beef cuts like cubed stew beef or beef short ribs.

The whole idea of a sinigang stew is to make home cooking easy by using whatever vegetables you have on hand. Feel free to substitute any of the vegetables with whatever is in season. Instead of the daikon radish, use red radishes. Regular eggplant can be swapped in for the Japanese eggplant, and baby spinach for the water spinach.

And lastly, for the water used to make the broth, our grandmothers taught us to use “hugas bigas,” the second or third round of water used to rinse the accompanying rice. The starch adds just a touch of body to the stew, bringing everything together in harmony.

Making This Stew in Slow Cooker

To make this stew in a slow cooker, sauté the tomatoes, onions, and garlic in a skillet. Add this to the slow cooker along with the pork, water, and tamarind broth. Cook in the slow cooker until the pork is tender, about 3 hours. Add the vegetables and cook until soft, about 40 minutes more.