We've had a lot of rain in California this winter and while the weather is not reminiscent of the hot humidity of the Philippines, it made me nostalgic for a dish I ate weekly growing up. Sinigang na Baboy(and at my parents' home we kids simply called it soup bone because my parents would use either beef leg or pork neck bones or cuts of meat high in collagen). Here's how I cooked mine.
I started with a stock pot of water and took the easy way out of using actual frozen tamarinds like my mother by using instead a commercial packet of tamarind soup mix that I found in an Asian grocery.
At the same Asian market (Ranch 99) I found Chinese long beans to be supplemented by some regular green beans and kale from our garden, which I washed and rinsed. I've also used in past homemade sinigang regular cabbage, Napa cabbage and bok choy. HOWEVER, I don't add the greens until the last 5 minutes of cooking because I like my veggies with a little vibrant crunch and chew and bright green in color. I even get a little sad when the veggies get khaki green from continued cooking although it's still yummy and soothing even as leftovers. And so what I do is add only enough vegetables for an immediate serving and bag the rest of the greens until ready to add to my leftover reheated meat broth.
Ranch 99 also carries those bony cuts of meat I favor for sinigang, which is where I bought these small pork ribs to which I added regular spare ribs to make a really meaty soup. I started the pot of water boiling along with the sinigang soup mix.
I boiled the meat bones in the tamarind broth for a good couple of hours in order to tenderize meat all the while skimming the top of the boiling pot of the scum and fat from the marrow. I then added an onion for another hour of boiling or to get that meat almost falling off the bone. I may have also added a halved jalapeño for some heat.
Here are those veggies again, but I've since chopped the beans and the kale into more bite-sized pieces, which again I won't add to the soup pot until I'm ready to eat, and they only take 3 to 5 minutes to get tender.
Soup bone all ready for a bowl of steamed rice and soy sauce with some broth ladled into a small bowl for dipping my spoon in and sipping Filipino-style for more comforting tastes of my childhood.
