Nilagang baboy or boiled pork ribs or pork belly with vegetables is a very simple Filipino soup dish. The good thing about this dish is that you can substitute the vegetables cooked with the pork. For example, instead of potatoes, you can use sweet potatoes. In the absence of pechay, you can use bok choy. This dish very versatile and simple.
And with regards to pork, choose pork ribs with thin layer of fat and remove the skin as much as possible. Because sometimes the skin has an unpleasant smelly swine odor specially male pigs. And you can actually taste that on the dish. We always remove the skin whenever we cook pork (except when frying like lechon kawali or crispy pata) but we keep it in fridge until there are plenty and enough to make pork rind cracklings or pork chicharon.
How To Cook Nilagang Baboy (Boiled Pork Ribs)
Ingredients
- 1 kilo pork ribs or pork belly
- 1 bundle of pechay
- 2 pcs sweet potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1/2 head cabbage quartered
- 1 medium size onion quartered
- 1 Tbsp. fish sauce or patis
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns cracked
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 liters of water
Instructions
How to Cook Nilagang Baboy
- Remove the skin of the pork ribs or pork belly. Then slice it into 3/4 inch thick and 1 and 1/2 to 2 inch length.
- Fill a medium size pot with water and let boil. Then put the pork and boil until the scum floats.
- Remove the scum that rises above the broth and add more water if needed.
- Add in the onion and black pepper then cook for an hour or until the meat is tender.
- Add in the sweet potatoes, salt and patis and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Then add cabbage and pechay and simmer for half a minute. Adjust the taste if necessary by adding more salt.
- Remove from heat and serve hot.
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This is also how my mom cooks her nilaga, with kamote. Kamote adds that sweet taste to the nilaga and if you crush a tiny piece, it thickens the broth just a little. I like your tip about removing the pork skin to rid the soup of that pork’s unpleasant smell. really helps especially if the pork is not as fresh as I’d like. Thanks for sharing your techniques that add that something special to the dish that we cant find in other recipes. Kudos and more power to your site!
Hi Rexj, Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I hope I can make a video of this recipe as soon as possible! Thanks again!
I’m glad you like this recipe. Cheers!
I really love to cook the recipe