Seven Thousand One Hundred Islands… continuation

Part of any trip home is chasing down the places that made you. And on my last trip back, in 2018, just before the pandemic shut the whole world down, one place sat right at the top of my list. A little street-side carinderia in Makati called Sosing’s.

Sosing’s

Sosing’s is not a classy restaurant, nor is it a trendy dinner, it’s a turo-turo spot tucked on a shaded corner. You point at what you want and it lands in front of you minutes later. No frills, no fuss. Just proper, honest Filipino food, cooked in a row of kawali sitting right there over the charcoal, literally street side.

A Different Life

My history with this place goes back further than a visit home. Before I entered the world of the cooking warriors, I had a different life. Fresh out of college, I worked for a finance firm in Makati, not far from this place. My job was in car loans, working with the bank people to get customers looking to finance a car approved. Office clothes, paperwork, phone calls, the whole thing.

And when lunch came around, Sosing’s was one of our go-to places. But you had to time it right. If we got an early break, we could make the dash and get there before the whole city descended. Blink and the tables were gone. Get there late and you were part of the lunchtime stampede, standing, waiting, watching other people eat your lunch.

The Budget Order

At Sosing’s, it had to be the inihaw na liempo. That is a story for another day, a part 2 all of its own. You would get your liempo, your gulay and your rice, and you were sorted.

But if you were on a budget, you knew what to do. You got the kare-kare. One dish that had it all — the meat, the tripe, the veggies, all sitting in that thick peanut sauce. Then you ordered your rice, and a little extra sauce on the side for the extra rice you knew you were going to have. That was lunch. Done.

So standing there in 2018, all those years later, there was really only one thing to order. The kare-kare. For old times. That same thick peanut sauce, the meat and the tripe and the veg, exactly the way I remembered it.

And the liempo. Because you do not come all the way back to Sosing’s and skip the liempo.

Craving, Meet Chest Freezer

For the past week I had been craving kare-kare. Bad. But between the restaurant, festivals and concert caterings, I did not have a single spare minute to get to the market and buy what I needed.

So I did what any hungry cook does when the craving will not quit. I went digging. Deep into the chest freezer at home. And right at the bottom, I found it. A whole shoulder of pork, about 1.8 kilos.

Thinking, thinking, thinking. No oxtail, no tripe, no time to shop. Just that shoulder and a craving that would not wait. And that is how I landed on Crispy Pork Kare-Kare.

Crispy Pork Kare-Kare

1.8 kg pork shoulder
Salt and pepper, to season the pork
2 onions, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 packets Mama Sita’s Annatto Powder
200 g smooth peanut butter
1 litre vegetable blanching water (see Step 2)
Patis, to taste
Salt, pepper and MSG, to taste
1 eggplant, sliced
300 g beans (green beans or sitaw)
2 bok choi
1 tin banana blossoms, drained
Barrio Fiesta green bagoong, to serve
Steamed rice, to serve

Step 1 — Season the pork shoulder well with salt and pepper. Wrap it in foil, leaving only the skin exposed. Roast in the oven at 180°C for 2 hours, until the skin is almost blistered. Set aside to cool.

Step 2 — Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch your vegetables — the eggplant, beans, bok choi and banana blossoms. Lift them out and set aside. Keep that blanching water. That is your stock.

Step 3 — In a pan, saute the onions and garlic until soft. Add the annatto powder and cook it out so the colour blooms.

Step 4 — Pour in a litre of the blanching water, then stir through the peanut butter until the sauce is smooth. Season with patis, salt, pepper and a little MSG. Let it simmer and thicken to your liking.

Step 5 — Once the pork has cooled, chop it into chunks and deep fry until crispy, almost like chicharon.

Step 6 — Return the blanched vegetables to the sauce to warm through. Plate up the vegetables and sauce, then crown it with the crispy pork. Serve with steamed rice and the Barrio Fiesta green bagoong on the side. Straight from the jar. No judgement.

Chef’s Tip

Do not drown the crispy pork in the sauce until the very last second. Plate your sauce and vegetables first, then crown it with the pork right before serving. That way the crackling stays crisp and you get that contrast of crunch against the rich peanut sauce. Sog is the enemy.

Happy Cooking and always remember to cook with your Heart…

More from my Philippine food adventure when we continue…