Iya Cooks: Pork Sinigang with Gabi

In the battle for sinigang supremacy, pork wins in my life. BUT it has to be cooked with gabi and lots of veggies. This is my ultimate comfort food so I made an effort to perfect the recipe my Mama taught me. I think she will still disagree when I say my sinigang is now better than hers though. :p

I like some meat on the bone with a thin layer of fat so ribs is obviously my porky portion of choice. When I feel like living dangerously, I use pork belly.

Cook the half a kilo of pork ribs for 20-30 mins in 4 cups of water until tender. Don’t forget to throw a pinch of salt to taste. While waiting for the meat to cook, prepare the rest of the ingredients–

5 pieces of okra- cut into half, 7 pieces of sitaw/yard-long beans, 3 pieces of gabi/taro- sliced into small pieces, 1 eggplant- halved then cut into 2-inch pieces, 3 tomatoes- chopped, 1 radish- sliced thinly, 1 red onion- quartered, around 50 kangkong leaves, 2 long green chili peppers, Knorr Sinigang Mix w/ Gabi (22gram pack), and Aji-nomoto Regular Sinigang Mix (20gram pack).

I only use the small gabi variety, yes, that one with the brown skin because it is softer and mushier than the big ones with white and violet skin.

The most important rule when it comes to cooking with gabi is to peel it first before washing because if you wash it first, your hands will surely get itchy. Unless you use gloves, which seems too much of a hassle. And gloves in the kitchen, imho look stupid.

Okay, back to the cooking pot! Once the pork is tender, of course, you should use a fork to stab it or bite it to know if it’s already cooked to your desires state. Because how else would you know really. Add the tomatoes, onions and sinigang recipe mix. Remember to put the entire pack of Knorr and only half of Ajinomoto. This is, if you want to achieve the sourness that I like.

Put the lid back on and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the onions change color. To pale violet.

Then put the gabi, eggplant, sitaw, okra, and radish. You must put the gabi first so it will be mushy and it will make the soup a bit thick. Some people prefer a thick soup. To achieve this, put more gabi. And no, you may not substitute camote for gabi unless you want your soup to taste funny.

It’s also very important to season with patis/fish sauce. I use the Ang Sarap Patis because the taste isn’t so strong to overpower the pork and the smell isn’t too strong to disgust me.

Put the chili and kangkong leaves just when you are about to turn off the fire so that the kangkong won’t look wilted and ugly and so the chili won’t turn the sinigang too spicy.

Stir carefully and simmer into a boil. I like my sinigang served to me hot scalding. And of course, I want it served with unlimited white rice, patis with crushed siling labuyo, and ice cold Coke.

This can feed 4-6. I finished this in 3 sittings though. :p

Happy cooking and happy eating!

// listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers – Breaking the Girl