My dad woke up early and went to the market to buy some ingredients for our lunch today. My mom told me that he will be cooking pork ribs and langka soup. Langka or jackfruit is a sweet delicious fruit found in tropical countries and luckily Philippines is one of them. But did you know that young jackfruit can be incorpprated into main dishes? The most common dish is the ginataang langka or jackfruit in coconut milk. I love it spicy and paired with fried fish. However, my dad being a pure blood Ilonggo likes it in soups. He cooked it with kadios and pork and its equally tasty.
When my dad came, I quickly volunteered to cook our lunch. He asked me if I know how to cook it and I simply said yes even though I have not seen him do it. I simply thought that he put everytging in a pot and boils everything. So simple right?
In my case, I baked the pork ribs until golden brown and simmeref the pork ribs in rice wash until fork tender. Then, I added the young chopped jackfruit and simmered for another 30 minutes. The good thing about baking the pork ribs is that, even if you over simmered it, it won’t fall off the bone. I don’t like it when the pork meat falls off the bone and you have to search the meat in the soup.
Practically, this dish is so simple. Just an additional step of baking to prevent the meat from disintegrating and everything is like a one pot dish.
Ingredients
1 kilo Pork Ribs, chopped into chunks
Salt
6 cloves Garlic
1 bulb Onion
6 cups Rice Wash
5 pieces Tomatoes
1 piece Beef Bouillon Cube
4 cups Chopped Young Jackfruit
Water
Fish Sauce
Ground Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons of annato seed soaked in 1/2 cup hot water (optional).
Procedure
Preheat oven to 240 degrees Celsius or to the highest mark.
Clean pork ribs and pat dry. Season with salt and bake 25 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
In a pot, combine garlic, onion, rice wash, tomatoes, bouillon cube and baked pork ribs. Boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Add the chopped young jackfruit. Add more water if needed and season with fish sauce and black pepper. Simmer for another 30 minutes.
Add the annatto water gradually just to add a little color or you can totally ignore this step.
Serve with fish sauce and calamansi and hot bowl of steamed rice. Add chili to the fish sauce mixture and you will surely eat a lot.
