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Steaming bowl of Sinigang Filipino sour soup with tender pork pieces, quartered red tomatoes, white daikon radish rounds, glossy purple eggplant chunks, whole okra, and green water spinach leaves in light tamarind broth, with a bowl of steamed white rice and a small dish of sliced chilies in fish sauce beside it

Sinigang: Filipino Sour Soup

Sinigang is a tangy Filipino sour soup of pork simmered with tomatoes and onion, soured with tamarind and finished with daikon, eggplant, okra, long beans, and water spinach. Serve hot with steamed rice.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 4 bowls
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 lb (680 g) pork shoulder, pork ribs, or a mix cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces
  • 8 cups (1.9 L) water
  • 1 medium (about 6 oz / 170 g) yellow onion cut into wedges
  • 3 medium (about 12 oz / 340 g) tomatoes quartered
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) tamarind concentrate or paste plus more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce plus more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more as needed
  • 1 medium (about 8 oz / 225 g) daikon radish (labanos) peeled and cut into 1/2-inch rounds
  • 6 oz (170 g) long beans (sitaw) or green beans cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 1 small (about 6 oz / 170 g) Japanese eggplant cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 6 whole okra pods stems trimmed
  • 2 cups (about 2 oz / 60 g) water spinach (kangkong) leaves and tender stems, or baby spinach
  • 2 to 3 long green finger chilies (siling haba) optional
  • Cooked rice for serving

Method
 

  1. Start the pork and aromatics: put the pork and water in a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Skim off the foam that rises in the first few minutes. Add the onion and tomatoes, lower the heat to a steady simmer, and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, until the pork is tender and the tomatoes have softened into the broth. Lightly mash a few tomato pieces against the side of the pot to help them melt in.
  2. Sour the broth: stir in the tamarind concentrate and the salt. Simmer for 2 minutes, then taste. The broth should be clearly sour before any vegetables go in. Add more tamarind a tablespoon at a time if it tastes flat.
  3. Add the sturdy vegetables: add the daikon rounds and finger chilies if using. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until the daikon turns slightly translucent at the edges.
  4. Add the quick-cooking vegetables: add the long beans, eggplant, and okra. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the beans are bright green and just tender and the eggplant is soft but still holding its shape.
  5. Season with fish sauce: stir in the fish sauce and taste again. You want sour first, then salty and savory. Add more fish sauce a teaspoon at a time if the soup tastes thin.
  6. Wilt the greens last: add the water spinach and stir just until it wilts, about 30 seconds. Take the pot off the heat right away so the greens stay green.
  7. Serve: ladle the soup into bowls with a piece of pork and a mix of vegetables in each. Serve with hot rice on the side and extra fish sauce at the table.