On the menu: Pork Sinigang and Lumpia Shanghai.
Welcome to Asia! It's quite a different mix of flavors and ingredients compared to the foods we tried from Africa. Like I told Younes, it's all about the rice and noodles now, much to his dismay. 😂 But last night we started off pretty easy with a Filipino soup and spring rolls.
1. Pork sinigang: This one comes at the recommendation of a friend. We had some mixed feelings about it.
First, finding all the ingredients turned out to take the better part of a day. Shout out to this little Asian market in Fayetteville, Pan Thai Market. I can't believe I've never been there before! I will definitely be back - they have just about everything for cooking Asian food. I mean, I was able to find all the condiments I needed, and then some. They also had the correct wrappers I needed for the spring roll recipe, which I sort of wasn't expecting!
Then, it was on to every other grocery store in the city trying to find taro. I finally found it at my last stop, closest to the house. Harris Teeter, you came through for me. Of course, I had to learn what taro even is. (But I think it's possible I've eaten it in Japan without really knowing what it is.) Taro is a root vegetable that is brown and stringy on the outside, and white like a potato on the inside. Similar to yuca/cassava, it has to be cooked before you can consume it. When raw, it's got a slimy texture that sort of freaked me out, and that slime is a substance that apparently can irritate your mouth and throat. So yeah, I cooked that really well.
The one thing I almost thought I wouldn't find was the pork belly. Most stores I asked said they can't get it in stock. I would have substituted pork butt chunks like the ones that are used for carnitas, but Younes was able to find a specialty butcher shop near his work that had it, Carolina Surf and Turf.
Ingredients Line-up.
Actually making the sinigang was pretty simple. I found a great recipe, complete with video that has to be watched with subtitles. How's that for authentic?
Compared to the recipe, it looks like I nailed it.
2. Lumpia Shanghai: When I think of Filipino cuisine, I think of these spring rolls.
Thanks to a coworker of mine who always brings spring rolls to potluck events, this was a must on my list to try making. As soon as we landed randomly on the Philippines, I knew I was going to try to make these. Let me tell you, they did not disappoint.
The main recipe I used called for ground pork and ground beef in the filling, but you could probably use whatever kind of ground meat you want in the filling. I also used this recipe as a guide, and took their advice to add some garlic powder and soy sauce to the filling. Also, the first recipe omitted that you have to cook the filling before stuffing the wrappers. That just felt strange to me. Definitely cook your filling, first.
Wrapping the lumpia was fairly simple, but the first few that I rolled weren't tight enough. The hardest, most tedious task was separating the super thin wrappers without completely ripping them apart.
Once wrapped, I put the lumpia in the fridge until I was ready to fry it in vegetable oil. Also, I saved some in the freezer for another day, so there's that to look forward to!
Here's what we thought.
The sinigang was alright, but not a favorite. We both thought it was good, and I think Younes liked it a bit more than I did. What I didn't like was the sour tamarind flavor of the broth. It balances out well with the veggies and meat, but I wouldn't eat it by itself. Surprisingly though, I really liked the taro. Younes liked the broth, but he didn't like the pork fat, which is no surprise. He sat there and picked it off of the meat, while my savage self every last bite. But I'm thinking if I make it for us again , I would modify it and go with the butt pieces. Overall 5/10. Would still recommend it if you're adventurous and like sour flavors.
Now, the lumpia is my favorite thing, probably out of this whole world tour so far! I love all things dumplings - fried, boiled, sauteed, I'm here for it. This one is no different. It's got a hearty meat filling and a thin, crunchy wrapper. I preferred the sweet chili sauce to dip them in, but the homemade vinegar-soy sauce was also a nice compliment for it.
I said the lumpia was 12/10 stars, Younes gave it 7/10. Let's say that averages to 9.5/10. They are definitely worth it!
Served with vinegar-soy dipping sauce, and a Thai sweet chili sauce (my favorite!)
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