Original Filipino Pork Belly Sinigang

I’m sure that sinigang needs no introduction. It’s one of the staple Filipino dishes that practically every Filipino has devoured and loved. It’s one of the few indigenous Filipino dishes that are present in the Philippines since before the first Spaniards came to its shores. Ancient tribes in the Philippine archipelago have been making sour soups that have evolved to what we know now as sinigang.

There is some evidence that the dish sinigang originates from the Tagalogs because of its entomology. Sigang is a Tagalog verb that simply means “to stew” but it’s undeniable that this sour soup dish is now considered a universal Filipino dish no matter what region of the Philippines.

I grew up eating all types of sinigang dishes and practically every Filipino has the same experience. It’s one of the many Filipino recipes in the country that every household can boast to have their special recipe of. It’s a great everyday meal and can be eaten at any time of the day. It’s also the ultimate comfort food and is especially enjoyed during a cold rainy day.

The main ingredient of a sinigang is its souring agent. This can be in the form of any ingredients as long as it brings a dominantly sour flavor to the stew, no matter what type of meat or other main ingredients it has.

Traditionally, tamarind is used as the souring agent in sinigang (which also brings the most flavor, in my opinion), however, nowadays people can buy artificial sinigang flavorings to put in their stew in the form of small cubes. I’ve tried the artificial cubes before and it does its job well but it doesn’t match up to natural ingredients.

I really like a good sinigang recipe for any day of the week. And I like sinigang in general because of how diverse it is as a dish. Any kind of protein can be used as long as the sour flavor is kicking and intact. I think I’ve tried almost every type of sinigang dish available, be it fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, and even sinigang with guava and mangga.

My favorite though is by far a standard pork sinigang. The pork sinigang recipe that uses a succulent cut of pork belly. I think that the pork belly with its layers of meat and fat gives a certain richness to the broth of the stew. Of course, we can’t not mention the vegetable ingredients that also contributes to the overall richness of the dish. The more variety of vegetable there is in a sinigang dish, the richer the flavor.

And of course, I wanted to have a pork sinigang recipe of my own so I asked my parents for the family sinigang recipe. But I wasn’t satisfied with it. I wanted to alleviate and so I experimented a bit with the recipe and came up with my original Filipino pork belly sinigang recipe.

Yes, its the recipe we’re going to do today. I’ve been keeping this to myself and for the people I cook for for a long time. But I think I’m finally ready to share it with you guys. Now, I’m not the type of cook who’s absolutely in love with their homemade dishes and thinks that no other meal can live up to what they make at home.

I like to venture and see what other people and establishments have to offer with their dishes. It’s not until this recipe of pork belly sinigang can I confidently say that it’s among the best out there that I’ve tasted (yes, I still won’t say its the absolute best because it’s all subjective at the end of the day).

I’m also proud to say that every else who tasted it gave me great feedback expressing the same thing, so it’s fair to say that I’m not just making this up. The ingredients for this pork belly sinigang are the best quality and the freshes that are available in the market and I think it’s evident in how it turned out.

So here it is. The ingredients are listed down below. We do need to do a somewhat significant amount of prep work for the ingredients but it’s all worth it. The cooking instructions are also fairly to follow to create this delicious recipe.

We’ve also made a special video for those more inclined to visual learning. All the ingredients used and the step by step guide on how to put this recipe together are all discussed in the video. Have fun and enjoy your delicious pot of this original Filipino pork belly sinigang.