Sinigang na Baka
Sinigang na Baka sa Sampalok
Filipino sinigang na baka—tender beef in sour sampalok broth with radish, kangkong, and tomatoes; the beef sinigang search after pork, shrimp, and salmon.
Serves 6 · 1h 50m total
The Story
Pork sinigang is the celebrity. Shrimp sinigang is the weeknight. Salmon sinigang is the glow-up. Beef sinigang is the tito who showed up with a bigger pot and refused to leave until the meat was tender.
Same sour tamarind soul, different personality. Beef needs time. If you rush it, you get sour soup with chewing exercise. If you simmer until the beef surrenders, you get a broth that tastes like it has a backstory—tomatoes mashed, labanos soaking up asim, kangkong thrown in last so it stays green and dramatic.
Filipinos search this because they already love sinigang and they have beef in the freezer. That's the whole origin story. No royal court. No secret spice. Just sampalok, patience, and the ancient knowledge that rice exists to carry sour broth. Taste as you go. Too sour? Tomato and a pinch of sugar. Too shy? More mix, more tamarind, more life.
Best paired with
Steamed rice, patis-calamansi-sili sawsawan, and the other sinigang pages if you're collecting the whole set.
Use it in these KusinaPH recipes
Lola's Tips
- ✦Use beef with some connective tissue—brisket, short rib, or stew cuts. Lean steak in sinigang is a waste of a personality.
- ✦Simmer the beef first until tender, then add vegetables. Reverse that and you'll have mushy sitaw and tough beef, which is a tragedy in two acts.
- ✦Kangkong last. Always last. Green and snappy, not swamp.
- ✦Fresh tamarind is the cleanest sour. Mix is the weeknight honest version.
- ✦The soup should be properly maasim. If it tastes like beef tea, you are not done.
Substitutions
- beef brisket or stew meat → beef shanks for extra body, like bulalo went sour
- fresh tamarind → 1 packet sinigang sa sampalok mix
- kangkong → pechay or spinach off heat
Ingredients
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Instructions
- 1
Cover beef with water, add onion, and simmer until the meat is actually tender—45–75 minutes depending on the cut. Skim the scum. This is not glamorous. This is how beef earns its sour bath.
- 2
Add tomatoes and mash them a little. Stir in tamarind or sinigang mix and patis. Taste. Maasim first, salty second. If it's polite, it isn't sinigang.
- 3
Add labanos, sitaw, and eggplant. Cook 6–8 minutes until the radish is tender but not falling apart into the broth like a rumor. Eggplant should go soft, not dissolve.
- 4
Lay whole siling haba on top like the photo—don't chop them unless you want a dare. Kill the heat. Stir in kangkong and let it wilt in residual heat so it stays bright.
- 5
Serve the way the photo argues: a mountain of rice, the soup in the big bowl, and a small dish of patis with calamansi and a whole red chili. Warn the table the beef is hot and the soup is sour. Both are compliments.
Kitchen Timer · 20 min prep first
90:00
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