Sinigang (Filipino hot and sour soup)

Love hot and sour soup from those Chinese restaurants? Well baby dolls, you'll LOVE this!!! I have been eating this soup since I was a small child and  my mother always used to cook it for me. I love it! It is by far my favorite Filipino dish. Laugh if you'd like, but I think I liked it so much because when I was a kid, my mom would use a leafy vegetable called kangkong (swamp spinach) and I could slurp the soup out of the stems. Don't judge me. I was a strange kid! ;)

So anyway, I was sitting around the house earlier procrastinating on going to the store when I remembered that I had pork in the fridge and the tamrind soup base in the pantry. HECK YES! That called for sinigang and sinigang is what I made!

INGREDIENTS:

1    Pk of pork (Can be boneless or w/ bone. My mom always used bone-- I don't. You can also use shrimp, chicken, or a combination of all in this recipe as well!)

1    Bundle of leafy vegetables (Its what I use... If you don't have access to an Asian  Market, you can use regular cabbage and it's just as good!)

1    Packet of Tamrind soup base. I think it's only sold in Asian markets.

10 Cups Water

The rest of the things I put in this recipe are optional. (Like I said before, I like to put my on twist on recipes, and besides, I put this recipe together by myself.)

I also used 8-10 cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, Frank's Hot Sauce (Good stuff!), a small slice of fresh ginger, about 2 cups of bean sprouts, and 1 small onion. This recipe can be changed just about any way you want. I have seen potatoes, carrots, and cabbage put into it as well. What makes this soup so good is the base.

PREPARATION:

If you're using the leafy vegetables in this recipe, just cut them into 1 inch thick strips. If you're using cabbage, I usually cut mine into about 3 inch thick chunks all the way around.It'll break apart once it's softened up.

I usually just go ahead pour the sinigang (tamarind) soup base into the 10 cups of water and once it is boiling, I put in my 1 inch thick, chopped pork. I make sure the pork is cooked, which I usually let boil for about 20 minutes. Once that is all done, I throw in the leafy vegetables or cabbage, whichever you prefer, the cherry tomatoes that I cut in half, and all of the rest of the vegetables.

Now here is what I have learned from experience. Depending on the flavors that your taste buds can tolerate, you may have to add more water OR (as my mother would tell me) you could cut down and use only about 3/4 of the tamarind packet. The base can be a bit strong, but I like it like that so I use the whole pack and don't use as much water. This is where I also add my salt, black pepper, and hot sauce. Just keep taste testing it to your liking. If you think the soup is even almost where you want it, you'd better stop adding because once the food starts settling and the flavors start coming together, the flavors are going to be a lot stronger.

After adding all of my desired vegetables, I let them boil for about 10-15 more minutes, depending how soft you want your vegetables. When I cook this recipe with cabbage especially, I don't like my evegetables too soft. I like my food with a slight crunch. Mushy food is not my style!

Now the soup should be done. I serve this soup over a small bed of rice, and.... VOILA!!! Dinner is served!

*Side Note: If you are in and around the Montgomery area and would like to try any of the Asian recipes that I post, there is an excellent little Asian food market in Montgomery. It is located at the corner of Federal Drive and Madison Ave which is in the shopping center directly across the street from Captial Heights Jr High School. The lady's name is Brenda and she is so helpful. I have known her since I was a kid. She'd be happy to help you in anything that you're looking for!*