Nilagang Baboy – A Comforting Filipino Pork Soup

Nilagang baboy is the ultimate comforting Filipino pork soup consisting of pork liempo pieces accompanied by banana, string beans, potatoes, corncob, cabbage, and pechay, simmered in a savory broth. Nilagang baboy is a flavorful classic rainy day Filipino dish that is perfectly paired with steamed rice.

Benefits of Nilagang Baboy

Nilagang Baboy in English ” A Hearty Boiled Pork Soup ” has 250 to 290 pork nilaga calories per serving. Is a dish filled with essential vitamins and nutrients like protein that helps with muscle repair, fiber for digestive health, collagen from simmering the pork long enough, antioxidants to increase the body’s immunity. A warm, comforting dish often served as nilagang baboy with vinegar or patis with rice on the side.

Sangkap ng Nilagang Baboy

• Pork Liempo – or ‘Pork Belly’ the best choice for simmering as it has a good amount of fats. Which will add flavor into the soup base and keep the meat tender.
• Potatoes, Corn cob, Saba Bananas – fiber, and starch filled fillers. It also adds color and fullness into the dish.
• Cabbage, String Beans and Pechay – adds fiber and color into the dish. You can aslo choose to use other leafy greens more readily available to you.
• Ginger, Peppercorns, and Onion – helps remove any foul smells the pork may have.
• Pork Broth Cube – for a stronger base broth flavor.
• Fish sauce – to taste, you can also replace this with salt if you prefer.
• Water – for simmering.
  

How to Cook Nilagang Manok

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.

2. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pork is tender. 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!

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.

What is 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).

Why try this dish ?

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.

Questions :

• Nilagang Baboy Calories

For the Nilagang Pata ng Baboy Calories, there are around 250 – 300 calories for around 1 cup.

• Is it the same as Sinigang ?

No, Sinigang is a sour stewed based Filipino soup given it’s sourness from the tomatoes, tamarind, kamias ( tree sorrel ), or powdered souring agent. While Nilaga is a meaty savory soup based dish.

You can check out ” How to cook Sinigang Baboy ” in the link.

• What is the difference between Tinola and Nilaga ?
  The difference between the two is that the main choice of meat for Tinola is Chicken, with a key flavoring base of ginger, fish sauce, chili leaves or lemon grass, with green papaya as it’s main source of fiber. While Nilaga often uses pork, seasoned with ginger, pepper, and onions, mixed with a lot of leafy greens like cabbages, pechay, spinach, potatoes, and in more traditional versions – saba bananas.
• Additional easy Nilagang Baboy Recipe Ingredients :
  • Nilagang Baboy recipe with Ginger – while this nilagang pork dish already has ginger added. Give it 1 – 2 thumbs more for a stronger taste. This gives the dish it’s stronger aroma and warming effect on the body.
  • Nilagang Baboy with Spinach – add more fiber or replace the pechay with spinach. You can use any leafy vegtable that suits your diet and budget.
  • Nilagang Baboy with Langka – This version is a Nilagang Baboy Ilonggo style. For added nutritional benefits like fiber, antioxidants, bone and skin health. Add these in with the potatoes. This also adds a slight fruity sweetness into the dish.
  • Nilagang Baboy with White Beans – for extra texture, creaminess, and nutrients. Add it together with the potatoes.

• Using other types of meat
  • You can use pork ribs to make Nilagang Baboy Ribs also called “Nilagang Ribs ng Baboy” or ” Nilagang Pork Ribs with Corn “. How to cook Nilagang Buto buto ng Baboy ? When using ribs or any pork parts with the bone in, do note that this will take longer to tenderize. It may take 30 minutes to an hour depending on how thick the bone and meat is.
  • Make ” Nilagang Beef ” or ” Nilaga Karne ” – How to cook Nilagang Baka? Simply replace the pork chunks with beef. Similarly if you do use any beef parts with the bone in, it will take some time to tenderize.
  • Nilagang Pata ng Baboy with Repolyo – For those who want a more collagen filled dish. Try using the ‘Pata‘ or ‘Pork Leg‘. Chop or slice these into smaller pieces to avoid simmering for longer hours.
  • Or the protein filled Nilaga Chicken Recipe. For this chicken potato Filipino recipe, it’s best to season the chicken with salt and pepper, saute both sides just until lightly browned. Then simmer with the corn and saba until fully cooked. The simmering time also depends on how big the chicken part is. If you do choose to use bigger parts like the chicken breast, leg, or wings. Once the potatoes are tender, poke the middle of the chicken breast. The liquid that comes out should be clear not pink. Once ready, then you can follow the steps after. If it’s still pink, give it 5 to 7 more minutes.

• What to pair this with ?

While this dish is often paired with a side of steaming hot rice, you can also add in noodles like pasta, egg noodles, or glass noodles cooked in another pot before adding it into the soup. But if you do choose to add noodles into the pot right away, the best choice would be ‘misua’ ( or wheat vermicelli ) since it cooks fast. “Nilagang Baboy with Misua” is also a popular choice for many.

Try our other Filipino Pork Ribs Recipes :

Paano Magluto ng Nilagang Baboy

Nilagang Baboy Ingredients Tagalog ( 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!

Nilagang Baboy is a hearty Filipino dish that truly warms you up from the inside out. This nilaga soup features tender cooked pork with pechay, potatoes, bananas, corn, and other greens simmered in a clear, flavorful broth. A simple yet satisfying dish perfect fro the colder weather months, or when you are craving for something warm and home-cooked.