Michelle’s Family Recipes for Filipino Sour Soup and Adobo

Mama’s Adobo

Serves 6 ⋅ Prep time 30 minutes ⋅ Cook time 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

• 2 ½ lbs. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 to 3 cups water
• ½ cup dark soy sauce (or substitute 1 cup soy sauce or light soy sauce)
• ½ cup cane vinegar (or substitute white vinegar)
• 1 tbs. whole black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 crushed garlic cloves

Directions

1. Put the pork shoulder in a 6-quart pot and add just enough water to cover. Over high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
2. Simmer the meat for 10 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Then, add the dark soy sauce, cane vinegar, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and garlic.
3. Continue to simmer for two hours, or until meat is tender. (Check the pot occasionally to make sure the meat is covered with liquid; add more water if the level is low.)
4. Once the meat is tender, season to taste with more soy sauce and cane vinegar. Serve over rice and a side of your preferred veggie.

Sinigang (Sour Soup)

Serves 6 to 8 ⋅ Prep time 45 minutes ⋅ Cook time 3 hours

Ingredients

• 12 cups water
• 1 lb. pork neck or shoulder bones (found at most Asian stores or ask your local butcher)
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly sliced into wedges
• 2 Roma tomatoes, quartered
• 2 ½ lbs. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 or 2 sinigang flavor packets (found at most Asian markets and some specialty grocery stores)
• 6 baby bok choy, root ends trimmed (or substitute 1 bok choy head, root end trimmed and stem and leaves separated)
• 2 long Asian eggplants, cut on the bias into 1-inch wide pieces (or substitute bulb eggplant cut into 1-inch cubes)
• 6 inches of daikon radish cut into 1-inch cubes (or substitute red radishes cut into ¼-inch slices)
• ¼ lb. long green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces (or substitute string beans)

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, add water and pork bones. Bring to a rapid boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer.
2. Simmer broth for 30 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface.
3. Add onions and tomatoes and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
4. Remove pork bones from the broth and add cubed pork shoulder. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes, and skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
5. Add sinigang flavor packets to taste and let meat simmer for an additional 1 1/2 hours, or until almost fork-tender.
6. Add baby bok choy (if using regular bok choy, add only stems at this point), eggplant, daikon, and long green beans. Simmer vegetables for 20 minutes. If using regular bok choy, add the leaves and simmer until meat is fork-tender.
7. Enjoy over steamed rice or by itself.