Sinigang na Buto Buto

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. Nature." 

~John Ruskin

Sinigang is a Filipino sour soup or stew made from meat or seafoods, vegetables, and tamarind. Traditionally, tamarind is used to make the soup sour, but we can also use other ingredients like ripe guava, calamansi, kamias, and green mango. I usually use buto-buto and liempo for my sinigang. 

Let's make some sinigang today. It's too comforting to sip a hot steaming soup in a cold rainy day. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
800 grams buto buto (pork neck bones), chopped
2 pcs labanos (raddish), sliced 
2 pcs medium eggplant, sliced
8 pcs okra, halved
10 pcs sitaw (string beans), cut in 2-3 in. length
5 pcs medium tomatoes, quartered
3 pcs medium gabi (taro) - I used the purple gabi, chopped (2 in thick)
1-2 pcs of siling panigang (finger chili)
1 medium red onion, quartered
8 cups water
1 pc kinapal or sweet tamarind paste ball (usually found in local wet markets)
3 cups kangkong leaves and tender stems or talbos ng kamote (kamote tops)
patis (fish sauce) and salt to taste
2 Tbsp oil

PROCEDURE:
1. Heat oil in a pot. Add onion and tomatoes.

2. Add the buto-buto and season with patis (about 1/8 cup). Stir. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

3. Add water. Let it boil. Once boiling, remove scums (impurities) from the broth. Lower the heat (medium-low), simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is tender.

4. Add gabi and siling panigang. Cook for 10 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, put the kinapal (sweet tamarind ball) in a bowl, add a cup of water. Squish it by hands or mash it. Then strain to remove the seeds.

6. Mash (using a fork) 3-5 pcs gabi to make the soup thicker.

7. Put the vegetables (except kangkong or talbos ng kamote) and kinapal extract in the pot. Cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Season with salt or patis. 

7. Add the kangkong. Stir and cover the pot. Turn off the heat.

8. Serve hot. Share and enjoy.

QUICK NOTES:
1. You may substitute other cuts of meats like liempo or kasim or use seafoods, beef, or chicken. 
2. If kinapal is not available in your area, you may use green mango, fresh tamarind, kamias, or other souring agent. OR if you want to make it simple and easy, just use sinigang mix or bouillon. But personally, I still prefer the natural one.
3. Crush the chili or cut it to make the soup a little spicy.
4. Make some chili-patis dip. Chop some bird's eye chili or siling labuyo and add patis (fish sauce).

Yield: 6-8 servings

Happy rainy day,

Rhea