Nilaga: A Filipino Comfort Food

BooMama is hosting a Soup recipe carnival called Soup-tacular and I've got to join! You see, I loooveee soup! One of the favorites in our home is the Nilaga. Nilaga is a stew variety and my kids loves it. They actually like it when I mash the potatoes that's in it (on their individual plates; using the soup base), and then they eat the soupy mashed potatoes along with the cut up meat - yum! For me, I love eating the vegetables with it - the bok choy (pechay) - yum! So here's the recipe and for more soup recipes, hop in to Boomama's Blog.

So here's the recipe. It's actually from Filipino Recipes on this site I cook mine by memory and I do not have the exact measurements so I copied this one for you:

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo beef, cut into 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" cubes

• 8 potatoes cut the same size as the beef

• 1 bundle Pechay (Bok choy) cut into 2 pieces

• 1 small cabbage, quartered

• 5 onions, diced

• 1 head garlic, minced

• 4 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil

• 10 corns of black pepper

• 1 liter of water

• Salt and pepper to taste

Beef Stew Cooking Instructions:

• In a big casserole, heat oil and sauté the garlic and onions.

• Add water, the beef, black pepper and patis. Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 hour or until the beef is tender.

• Add the potatoes. Continue to simmer until potatoes are cooked.

• Add the cabbage then the pechay. Do not over cook the vegetables.

• Salt and pepper to taste.

• Serve steaming hot in a bowl and plain white rice.

Cooking Tips:

You can substitute the beef with chicken (chicken stew) or pork (pork stew) for variety.