Nilagang Baboy

Nilagang baboy is a Filipino pork soup consisting of pork liempo pieces accompanied by banana pieces, string beans, potatoes, corncob, cabbage, pachay, in a greavy made by ginger, pepper corns, onion, broth cube, fish sauce and water. Nilagang baboy is a classic Filipino dish that is perfectly paired with steamed rice. With the much flavourful and naturally prepared pork broth, the nilagang baboy is best devoured during the rainy season

NILAGANG BABOY RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo pork liempo (cubed)
• 4 pieces saging na saba (sliced)
• 1 bunch string beans (sliced)
• 3 pieces potatoes (cut into large chunks)
• 1 yellow corn cob (cut into large chunks)
• Half cabbage
• 1 bunch pechay
• 1 thumb ginger (sliced)
• 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1 pork broth cube
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or to taste)
• 1 1/2 liter of water

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring 1 to 1 1/2 liter of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the ginger, onions, whole peppercorns and stir a bit. Add the cubed liempo gently. Add the pork broth cube and stir to dissolve. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pork is tender.
2. Remove the white scum that will float on the top.
3. Add the chopped yellow corn cobs and potatoes. Cover the pot and cook again until the potatoes are tender.
4. Add the string beans and saging na saba. Season lightly with some fish sauce and stir well. Cover the pot for 5 minutes until the saba is cooked.
5. Lastly, add the chopped cabbage and pechay. Gently submerge them in the broth or baste them with the broth. Once the pechay and cabbage are soft enough, then the dish is ready. Turn the heat off.
6. Gently tansfer the pork nilaga to a large serving bowl. Enjoy this as a soup or serve this with some hot steaming rice. Make sure to prepare some spicy patis and calamansi dipping sauce!

WHAT IS A NILAGA?

Nilaga is a Tagalog term which means “boiled”. The nilagang baboy literally translates to boiled pork. With just the way how it is prepared, this dish is one of the easiest dishes to prepare for pork as you can just throw the meat and other ingredients in the pot and simmer them until cooked well.

Some stories on the origins of the nilaga tells that boiling the bony parts of the pork came from not having enough money to buy much expensive cuts. Simmering these bony parts produced a more meaty and flavorful broth. With its rich and meaty broth, the nilaga can also be associated with other boiled soupy dishes like bulalo (uses beef).

NILAGANG BABOY

The rainy season is ongoing and some people (like me) wants some extra warmth aside from the hugs from my loved ones. Once this cool air made the hairs on my back shiver a little, making some hot soup is the first thing which comes into my mind. There are a lot of soup dishes out there but if you want an easy one, then making some pork nilaga would be a very good choice.

Nilagang baboy was one of the first dishes I learned to make. My lola told me that the most important part of cooking a nilaga is not just throwing away the meat and ingredients into the boiling water but to know how much boiling water I need. It totally makes sense! Since we want a rich and flavorful broth, we should be wary on not diluting it too much.

While the nilagang baboy proudly originates from the Philippines, there are a lot of ways we can prepare it. The most basic way to prepare the nilaga is to add some pechay, repolyo and ginger to the meat and broth. We cook it this way during petsa de peligro. But during paydays, we always make sure to put all the best veggies into this dish.

Among all the soup dishes, the nilagang baboy is truly one among the classics. If there’s a chicken soup for the soul, then this is the pork soup for the soul. Nilagang baboy can be eaten on its own, but best when enjoyed with hot rice and a spicy patismansi dip.

HOW TO MAKE NILAGANG BABOY

If you have tried making your own homemade pork broth/stock at home, then the following steps will be super easy for you.

Making some nilagang baboy will take a while but the actual steps are super easy. Basically what you need to do is to add the ingredients of nilagang baboy one by one until they are all cooked well together. The hack is to boil the meat first, because it will take a lot of time before it gets tender. Once the meat is tender, then your dish is almost ready. Add the veggies starting with the potatoes and corn, since the potatoes will also take a few minutes to soften. Once done, add the leafy veggies, such as the pechay and cabbage since they are the quickest to cook. Aside from the ingredients listed below, you can also make a spicy version of this by adding some red and green chilies.

Once all the ingredients are well cooked, do a final taste test. Remember to be gently on the salt and fish sauce because you can still customize the saltiness later using your spicy patis and calamansi sauce.

I really love my nilagang baboy with hot rice. Both the warmth from the soup and the rice perfectly hugs me during the rainy days. Yum!

COOKING TIPS

• Before cooking, estimate the quantity of the ingredients you will put in a pot and then choose a pot much larger than that to allow some space for the broth to boil.
• If you accidentally poured too much water, you can still enhance the pork flavor by adding 1/2 pork broth cube.

Paano Magluto ng Nilagang Baboy

Mga Sangkap:

• 1 kilo pork liempo (hiniwa ng cubes)
• 4 piraso saging na saba (hiniwa)
• 1 bugkos ng sitaw (hiniwa)
• 3 patatas (hiniwa ng malalaki)
• 1 yellow corn cob (hiniwa ng malalaki)
• Kalahating repolyo
• 1 bugkos ng pechay
• 1 luya (hiniwa)
• 1 kutsara buong paminta
• 1 maliit na sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 1 pork broth cube
• 2 kutsarang patis (pwedeng dagdagan)
• 1 1/2 litro ng tubig

Paano Lutuin:

1. Magpakulo ng 1 hanggang 1 1/2 litro ng tubig sa malaking pot. Ilagay ang luya, sibuyas, buong paminta at haluin ng konti. Sunod na ilagay ang liempo at ang pork broth cube. Haluin ito para matunaw ang broth cube. Takpan ang pot at hayaan itong maluto ng 20 – 30 minuto o hanggang lumambot ang karne.
2. Alisin ang mga puting foam sa ibabaw.
3. Sunod na ilagay ang mais at patatas. Takpan muli ang pot at hayaang maluto hanggang lumambot ang mga patatas.
4. Ilagay ang mga sitaw at saging na saba. Timplahan ito ng patis at haluing mabuti. Takpan ang kawali ng limang minuto hanggang maluto ang saba.
5. Huling ilagay ang repolyo at pechay. Ilubog ang mga ito sa sabaw o di kaya naman ay buhusan ng sabaw para lumambot at maluto. Kapag malambot na, ready na ang nilaga. Patayin ang apoy.
6. Dahan-dahang ilipat ang nilagang baboy sa malaking serving bowl. Kainin ito bilang paunang sabaw o samahan ng mainit na kanin. Wag kalimutang maghanda ng maanghang na patis at kalamansi bilang sawsawan. Yum!