Sinigang na Liempo
Sinigang reminds me of home. This is the dish I used to cook when I am homesick. I like the salty-sour thick soup that goes with it. At home, we use sampaloc (tamarind) instead of the usual mix you can buy. And we use lots of gabi to thicken the sauce. We usually use pork belly or liempo for sinigang.
Sinigang na Liempo
1 kilo pork belly
2 large tomatoes
2-3 pcs eggplant
200 grams gabi/taro
1 bunch of kangkong
2-3 long green sili (siling haba)
a handful of sampaloc
patis (fish paste) or salt to taste
Cut the liempo into serving pieces. Place in a pot and cover with enough water. Bring to a boil, remove scum then continue boiling till tender. Add more water if necessary and make sure there is enough broth left when meat is tender. Chop the tomatoes then add to the pot. Continue boiling till tomatoes are softened. Next add the gabi (slice into serving pieces - depending on how you like it, actually). When gabi is soft, remove half of it from the pot and mash. Set aside. Add the sampaloc (the handful is just an estimate, we usually buy it in a small bunch of several pieces and use all of them) and boil till tender. Remove all of the sampaloc and put in a bowl. Add the egg plant and siling haba to the pot and continue to simmer. While eggplant is cooking, scoop out about a cup of broth and add to the bowl of sampaloc. Mash the sampaloc to remove the flesh. You can add more broth if you like. Strain the sampaloc and return the broth to the pot. Add the mashed gabi and bring to a boil. Season with patis or salt. Add the kangkong and simmer a few minutes till it is cooked. Serve with rice, of course.
How do I like my sinigang? The salty-sour taste should be well-balanced - “nag-aagaw ang alat and asim“, thick soup with a hint of chili.
Sinigang is not complete without the dipping sauce. I usually have patis and kalamansi and mashed siling haba that cooked with the sinigang.
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July 25th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
This dish is my daughter’s favorite. I can serve this everyday, for lunch and dinner; and she will not complain.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Nothing beats sinigang!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
My husband and I have the debate whether sinigang should include tomatoes. I say they should (as this is what I’ve always done, and my mother has done)… and he says it doesn’t and claims he knows better since he was born & raised there. I’m glad that you included tomatoes so I can show him there are others that agree with me
July 25th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Glad to help you. And I learned sinigang from my elders so that means it always had the tomatoes. Sinigang was the first dish I cooked based on a recipe. It didn’t turn out as good as what my aunt cooked so I learned again from her verbally.
July 26th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Hi Gay!
Ano ka ba? You have me salivating here at work!
The way I was taught (kapampangan), if it’s pork or fish, we add tomatoes. If beef, no tomatoes.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:37 am
sarap ng sinigang, favorite ko yan eh. sabaw pa lang ulam na, i like it sour and then i’ll use bagoong instead of fish sauce when i eat it with lots and lots of rice, hehe.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
you are torturing me gay..the other day sinigang na tilapia this time its my big favorite that you cooked: sinigang na liempo..i love it with patis and siling labuyo!! thanks you just made my day!
July 26th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
This looks wonderful! Glad it reminds you of home.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I love sinigang! (who doesn’t???) hahaha. But I love it in more maasim side. S^_^S
July 27th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Im also crazy with sinigang specially the very sour one,but I like sinigang na bangus the best,tapos ang sawsawan ay patis malabon with siling labuyo..aaarrh ibalik niyo ko sa pilipinas LOL.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
After reading this post, my sister requested that we have sinigang na baka for Sunday lunch!
July 29th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Beef shanks delicious sa sinigang! Don’t forget taro! Try mo ba sinigang with kamote leaves?
July 29th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
We’ve used kamote leaves too. Usually when it’s fish sinigang, I use kamote leaves or siling labuyo. Depends what leaves catch our fancy. We’ve got lots of kamote and sili planted kasi.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Hola Gay! OMG! This does look good, but half of the ingredients and words are new to me!!!!
August 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hi, Gay!
Lovely, heart- warming site…
You really can’t take away sinigang from the Pinoy. In Tokyo, I sorely miss kangkong leaves and I just use spinach or any local variant of pechay. What I discovered is that salmon (the cheap kind here) makes a very delicious sinigang broth, esp when you use calamansi instead of tamarind to make the broth sour. Pork cut bacon strips- style also tastes even better than pork meat cubes for sinigang because the fat melts away instantly and makes a thicker broth… wow I’m salivating already.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Thanks Reg
You have calamansi in Tokyo? I use any souring ingredient, whatever is available at home. Pag may bunga ang kamias, I use kamias. Or calamansi. Pag nakabili ng sampaloc, I use sampaloc. Maybe for Tagalogs, sinigang is comfort food. But when you go down South, singang is not popular and people complain about the sourness. When I was in Iligan and started to live alone, I craved for sinigang. I went around the city just to look for a restaurant that serves singang. Buti na lang there’s a Tagalog restaurant.