Tamarind Pork and Bok Choy

I came up with this soup while searching online for inspiration. I ran into a recipe for a Filipino pork dish, Sinigang. I read through the flavors and decided to make a similar style soup, but add some other dimensions to it. Traditionally Sinigang is served with rice, and while I didn't include any in this soup, either rice or noodles would compliment it perfectly.

This is another one of my soups that, while easy to make, takes a little bit of time because of how I break down the recipe. I first decided to make a marinade using fresh ginger and tamarind and marinated my pork overnight. After searing and braising it, I pulled the pork into larger chunks and used the braising liquid as the soup's base. Separately I used pickled ginger and a vinegar solution, then did a quick pickle on some daikon root. I added the pork back to the base and blanched off the vegetables separately to keep them bright and green, also to increase the shelf life of the soup. I decided to use snap peas and bok choy as the vegetable base. With the addition of the daikon and pork, the soup had a ton of substance and flavor.

This is another soup that is essentially a very simple base that you can add almost anything too. Feel free to change the vegetables, add heat, include some starch into the dish, generally play around with it to get your own version of this rich, flavorful pork and vegetable soup.

Enjoy.

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Ingredients

Pork Marinade

• Pork Butt, sliced into strips 4 lbs

• Salt 2 T

• White Pepper 1/2 T

• Ground Mustard Powder 1 tsp

• Gochugaru (korean chili powder) 1 tsp

• Ground ginger 1 tsp

• Garlic powder 1 tsp

Tamarind Puree

• Lemongrass, minced 1 T

• Tamarind, from the shell 1/2 cup

• Garlic 5 cloves

• Ginger 3 oz

• Hot Water 1/2 cup

Soup Base

• Marinated Pork 4 lbs

• Onions, sliced 2 ea

• Tomatoes, canned 24 oz

• Chicken Stock 2 qt

Daikon Pickle

• Pickled Ginger 1/2 cup

• Daikon Root 2 cup

• Water 1/2 cup

• Salt 1/4 cup

• Mirin 1/4 cup

• Rice Wine Vinegar 1/4 cup

Soup Vegetables

• Snap Peas 12 oz

• Baby Bock Choy 5 ea

• Water as needed

• Salt 2 T
  

Method of Procedure

1. Start by mixing all of the marinade ingredients together and coat your sliced pork butt. Refrigerate overnight.

2. The next day, remove the pork from your refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

3. Heat your soup pot and sear the pork on each side.

4. While the pork is searing, gather your ingredients for the tamarind puree.

5. Remove the tamarind from the pods and place the whole bean into a container with how water and stir until it softens and dissolves. Remove the pit from the container.

6. Add the remaining ingredients from the puree to the tamarind and water and puree.

7. Place your onions from the soup base into the pot with the pork and continue to cook until they begin to soften.

8. Add your tamarind puree, tomatoes, and chicken stock.

9. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cooke the pork until tender and soft, around 1-2 hours depending on the thickness of your pork.

10. While your pork is braising, prepare your pickled daikon.

11. Add all your ingredients for the pickle, except the daikon to a pot and bring to a boil. Add your daikon and turn off the heat.

12. Seperately heat salted water up and blanch your snap peas and baby bok choy. Once blanched, shock and chill. Slice to the appropriate size.

13. Remove your pork from the liquid and cut into bite size pieces*.

14. Place the chopped pork back into the base and simmer for another 40 minutes.

15. Season the pork soup to taste.

16. To serve heat a portion of soup up and add your vegetables and pickled daikon.
    

*If your pork has bone, remove carefully before chopping