Ayoko ng BaboyPork-free Filipino recipes

Chicken

Chicken Sinigang (Sinigang na Manok sa Sampalok)

Sour tamarind soup with bone-in chicken, radish, string beans, eggplant, and kangkong. A pork-free take on the Filipino comfort classic.

A bowl of chicken sinigang in cloudy sour broth with radish, string beans, eggplant, and kangkong leaves
Prep20 min
Cook45 min
Total1 hr 5 min
Serves6
DifficultyEasy

Ingredients

  • 1.2 kg bone-in chicken, cut into serving pieces (thighs, drumsticks, and wings)
  • 8 cups water, or rice-washing water (hugas bigas) for a rounder broth
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 thumb ginger, sliced (optional, cleans the chicken flavor)
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce (patis), plus more to taste
  • 1 cup fresh tamarind (sampalok), OR 1 packet (40 g) sinigang sa sampalok mix, OR 1/4 cup tamarind paste
  • 1 medium labanos (white radish), peeled and sliced into rounds
  • 12 pieces sitaw (string beans), cut into 5 cm lengths
  • 1 medium talong (eggplant), sliced into thick rounds
  • 2 pieces siling haba (long green chili), left whole
  • 1 large bunch kangkong (water spinach), leaves and tender stems separated
  • Salt to taste

Method

  1. If using fresh tamarind, boil the pods in 1 cup water for 10 minutes until soft. Mash against a sieve, push the pulp through, and reserve the sour liquid. Discard the seeds and skins.
  2. In a large pot, bring the 8 cups of water to a boil with the onion, tomatoes, and ginger. Add the chicken, return to a boil, then skim off the gray foam that rises for the first few minutes.
  3. Lower to a steady simmer, cover, and cook for 25 minutes until the chicken is tender and the broth tastes savory. Season with the fish sauce.
  4. Add the labanos and simmer for 5 minutes until it turns slightly translucent.
  5. Stir in the tamarind extract, tamarind paste, or sinigang mix. Simmer 2 minutes, then taste. The broth should be clearly sour but still balanced. Add more souring agent a little at a time if you want it sharper.
  6. Add the sitaw, talong, and whole siling haba. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Do not let the chili burst unless you want the heat.
  7. Drop in the kangkong stems first for 1 minute, then the leaves. Turn off the heat right away; the residual heat wilts them in under a minute so they stay green.
  8. Taste one last time and adjust with fish sauce or salt. Ladle into bowls and serve piping hot with steamed rice on the side.

Sinigang is the sour soup every Filipino household argues over, usually made with pork belly or ribs. This version leans on bone-in chicken instead, so the broth still comes out rich and full-bodied without a trace of pork. Sinigang na manok is lighter on the palate, cooks faster than the pork version, and lets the sourness of the tamarind take center stage.

The soul of the dish is the souring agent, called the pampaasim. Tamarind (sampalok) is the classic, giving a deep, fruity tartness. A store-bought sinigang sa sampalok packet is the everyday shortcut and there is no shame in it. If you cannot find tamarind, calamansi juice or ripe guava (bayabas) both work: simmer a few guavas until soft, mash, and strain them into the pot for a mellow, slightly sweet sour. Green mango and kamias are other regional favorites.

Cook’s notes

  • Building the broth. Boiling the chicken with onion and tomato first, then skimming the foam, is what keeps the soup clear and clean-tasting. Do not rush this step.
  • Adding sour in stages. Souring strength varies wildly between fresh tamarind, paste, and packets. Start with less, taste, and build up. You can always add more, but you cannot pull it back out.
  • Vegetable order matters. Root vegetables like labanos go in early, softer ones like eggplant and beans go in later, and kangkong goes in last off the heat. This keeps each vegetable at the right texture instead of turning everything to mush.
  • Rice-washing water. Filipino cooks often use hugas bigas, the cloudy water from rinsing rice, as the base. It adds a subtle body and slightly thickens the broth. Plain water is perfectly fine too.
  • Make-ahead. The broth and chicken keep well overnight and the flavor deepens, but add the green vegetables fresh when you reheat so they do not go dull and gray.

For another comforting braise, try our pork-free Chicken Adobo, or go seafood with Fish Escabeche. Every recipe on Ayoko ng Baboy is built the same way: classic Filipino food, made completely without pork.