Sinantomas

Sinantomas is a Filipino pork dish made of pork, potato, green peas, onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, pineapple juice, pepper corn and soy sauce. Originating from the Quezon province, the distinguishable taste comes from the peppercorn and pineapple juice added into the dish which gives it a sweet and sour taste. This savory dish is jam-packed with flavor, from sweet, salty, sour and umami. This dish will surely have you asking for “extra rice”.

Sinantomas Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 kilo pork spareribs
• 1 potato (cut into 8 pieces)
• 1 can green peas 239g
• 1 medium-sized onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 5 pcs tomatoes, sliced
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• ¼ cup pineapple juice (60mL)
• 2 tablespoons banana ketchup
• 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
• fish sauce to taste
• ¾ cup water
• ¼ cup cheese

Instructions 

1. In a large bowl, mix together spareribs, soy sauce, pineapple juice and banana ketchup. Set aside to marinate for 1 to 2 hours.

2. In a pan, heat some oil. Cook the potatoes until slightly brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, sauté onion, tomatoes and garlic.

3. Add the marinated spareribs in the pan. Cook until slightly brown. Add water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the reserved marinade and peppercorns. Cook for 5 minutes.

4. Then add the green peas. Season with fish sauce, add the cheese and return the potatoes. Cook until sauce thickens then remove from heat.

5. Serve and enjoy.

Why try this dish ?

I first tasted this dish when I went to Quezon province to eat at my colleague’s debut party. I am really not familiar with this dish before but after I took a bite of sinantomas, it instantly caught my attention. It tasted familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. I researched the sinantomas recipe and found out that sinantomas is the Quezon province’s version of the classic Filipino Caldereta. I found out that the special ingredient used in this dish is the addition of pineapple juice. It was just pineapple juice all along! It’s amazing how this simple ingredient added that unique flavor in the dish.

One day I cooked this dish for lunch. My family members got curious saying the “caldereta was special”. I introduced them to sinantomas but I didn’t disclose about the pineapple juice. I guess it will just be me convincing them that I’m a great cook! In my version, instead of the canned pineapple juice, I use the store-bought pineapple tidbits and mashed them along with the juice before I put them into the flavorful marinade.

How to Cook Pork Ribs Sinantomas

Start by marinating the pork spareribs. If you bought the spareribs as a whole ( big chunk ). Remember to remove the membrane to ensure a tender pork before cutting these into smaller pieces. what makes this dish special is the simple marinade used. In this dish, pineapple juice which acidity and sweetness helps tenderize and help the pork absorb the flavors is added, also adding the savoury and sweet goodness of banana ketchup, and lastly the inclusion of umami from the soy sauce. Mix and marinade together for at least 1 to 2 hours or if you really want a flavor-packed dish, overnight to really give the marinade some time to get absorbed by the ribs.

When your spareribs are ready, heat some oil in a pan and fry your potatoes wedges. Just fry them until they are slightly brown. Remove and set it aside. The reason we’ve removed the potatoes are that it won’t come out mushy and overcooked later on. In the same pan, as most Filipinos do, sauté garlic first before the other aromatics to have that garlicky aroma and flavor spread throughout the kitchen. But to prevent the garlic from being too burnt, I sauté my onion first. In this case both my onions and garlic were cooked perfectly fine. Continue sautéing before adding your tomatoes. Since we are dealing with a rich sauce, it is recommended to use the ripe tomatoes or the plump ones. These tomatoes has both the right amount of sweetness and sourness which will add flavor to the dish. While doing research on this dish, I knew that some people use tomato sauce instead of fresh tomatoes. I think both will work so just choose what’s available on your food counter.

After sautéing your aromatics, add in your marinated pork spareribs in the pan. Reserve your marinade to use later. Cook your pork until slightly brown. When the pork is cooked, add your reserved marinade and the peppercorns. The marinade will add a nice slightly red coloring to your pork due to ketchup and soy sauce. Let this simmer for some time until it’s tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork. Then add in your green peas. Season with fish sauce. Adding the cheese at the end which not only adds to the saltiness of the dish but also helps thicken the sauce. Give it a taste and add more fish sauce or even sugar if you find the dish lacking sweetness or if it feels too salty. Some people add sugar to their sauce but I am already satisfied with the sweetness from the pineapple. Return the fried potatoes, allowing it to cook with the rest of the ingredients. When the sauce thickens, your sinantomas is ready. Turn off the heat and serve your sinantomas with freshly cooked rice.

Questions

• Sinantomas Calories

There are around 1000 calories for the whole recipe.

• Additional Sinantomas ingredients

While there are a number of ingredients you can add into this dish. Like adding carrots, mushrooms, even tofu. If you really want to make the dish even richer and nutty in flavor, add a tablespoon or 3 of peanut butter for “Sinantomas with Peanut Butter”.

• Other choice of meats

You can use any choice of meats from using other pork cuts aside from pork ribs-like pork chucnks, ground pork, and many others. To using any part of the chicken for “Sinantomas Chicken” (sinantomas na manok), and even beef ribs, chunks, or ground beef.

Other Yummy Pork Recipes :

• Pork Ginataan ( well seasoned pork stewed in a savory and spicy coconut sauce )
• Stir-fried Cabbage with Pork Belly
• Pork Tinola ( a hearty and very aromatic pork stew flavored with ginger, garlic, onions, sometimes with lemongrass )
• Pork Belly Hamonado Recipe
• Braised Pork Belly

Sinantomas Resipi ( Tagalog )

Mga Sangkap

• 1 kilo pork spareribs
• 1 patatas ( hiniwa ng pa 8 na piraso )
• 1 lata green peas ( 239g )
• 1 sibuyas ( hiniwa )
• 3 butil ng bawang ( tinadtad )
• 5 piraso kamatis ( hiniwa )
• 4 kutsarang soy sauce
• ¼ tasa ng pineapple juice ( 60mL )
• 2 kutsarang banana ketchup
• 1 kutsarang buong paminta
• patis to taste
• ¾ cup water
• ¼ cup cheese

Paano Lutuin

1. Sa malaking mangkok, haluin ang spareribs, pineapple juice, at banana ketchup. Itabi para ma-marinade ng 1 – 2 na oras.
2. Sa kawali, uminit ng mantika at lutuin ang mga patatas hanggang mag kayumanggi. Tanggalin sa kawali at itabi. Sa parehong kawali, lutuin ang mga sibuyas, kamatis, at bawang.
3. Ihalo dito ang spareribs. Lutuin hanggang mag-kayumanggi. Haluan ng tubig at pakuluan ng 10 minuto. Ihalo ang na tirang marinade at mga paminta. Lutuin ng 5 minuto.
4. Ihalo dito ang mga green peas, patis, keso, at nilutong patatas. Lutuin hanggang kumapal ang sarsa. Tanggalin sa init.
5. Ihanda at ienjoy !