Pork in Tomato Soup

One very Filipino eating trait I notice is the preference for soupy or saucy dishes. Traditionally, each meal had a soup which did not have to be separate from the entrée. The classic sinigang and tinola are good examples. But then we also do not serve dishes in a sequence, like soups and appetisers, salads, mains and so on. That’s a topic for another day. :lol:

Soupy and saucy dishes are a flavour contrast to the blandness of rice which is the backbone of every meal. More often than not, the soup or sauce is poured on and mixed with the rice. In Kapampangan we call this ambulâ (halo in Tagalog). At least in our house, this has become so ingrained that when we cook, we deliberately add more liquid just for the panambulâ.

The recipe below is an example of a soupy dish my grandmother cooked very often. I only know it by its Kapampangan name - Lutung Camatis â Babi - literally pork cooked in tomatoes. I am not sure if it has counterparts in other regions. It is a flavourful blend of slow-simmered meat and still-crunchy vegetables. This dish is versatile enough to be adjusted to individual preferences. Some prefer it to be mostly meat. In our family, we are not very avid meat eaters so what we do is to cut the pork into small cubes and add more vegetables. Every now and then, we also use bulig (dalag or mudfish) instead of pork.

I’ve seen a version of this dish which has a lot of beans in it that it’s already similar to the Spanish fabada. The beans we use are similar to lima beans except that they’re flatter and wider. They are called bulé baluga - bulé meaning beans in Kapampangan and baluga referring to the indigenous Aetas who come down from the mountains bringing us the yearly supply. I know that the term is supposedly not politically correct anymore when referring to people but that’s how we’ve always called these beans. I’ve also been told by our visiting Aetas that they’ve always referred to themselves by that name that they don’t feel slighted when hearing it. However, I guess it also depends on which tribe they’re from. Again, I digress.

Lutung Camatis Babi
1/3 kg. pork cubes (any cut, mix fleshy parts with some bones)
1/2 cup dried bulé baluga, soaked overnight (patani or lima beans Phaseolus lunatus)
1 small cabbage, approx. 6 inches in diameter, sliced into thin wedges
1 bunch pechay (Chinese cabbage - Brassica chinensis), sliced in half cross-wise
1 medium radish, peeled and sliced into 1/2′ diagonal circles
2 tablespoons garlic, crushed
1 cup diced ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon cooking oil
salt to taste
patis (fish sauce - optional)
4 cups water (approx.)

Sauté garlic till very lightly browned. Just before it sticks to the pot1, add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Simmer till very soft, adding a few tablespoons of water now and then if the mixture dries up.

Add the pork, cover the pot* and simmer.2. After around 5 minutes, pour in half a cup of water and simmer for at least 30 minutes over very low fire. When half-done, add the drained beans and another cup of water. Do not stir before the pot simmers. After 30 minutes under very low fire, check the beans. Add small amounts of water to prevent it from drying up.

When the beans are almost done (tender but still a bit raw inside), add the radish and cabbage, simmer for 2 minutes then put in the pechay, stalks firt then the leaves after a minute or two. Adjust the taste by adding a bit more salt or patis if desired. Simmer for around two minutes until all the vegetables are done.

We love eating this on the second day, when the vegetables have melted into the soup after being reheated several times. We then add another batch of fresh greens.

Serves 3-4 persons if served alone with rice.

  1. Guisang sagiwa, literally a raw sauté - when the aroma of cooking garlic starts to permeate the air [back]
  2. Always cover the pot while simmering [back]