Nilagang Baka - Comfort Food

It has been cold and rainy here in the Bay Area as of late and what better way to enjoy home-cooking than to make some comfort food. One of my favorite Filipino comfort foods is Nilagang Baka (or "Nilaga" for short; Nilaga is Tagalog meaning "boiled"). "Nilagang Baka" is also called Beef Nilaga, loosely translated as Beef Boiled.

Here, I have made a big pot of nilagang baka using my favorite beef cut: beef short ribs. I love using beef short ribs in this recipe because of the fattines of the ribs that gives the broth that extra flavor.

I added cabbages, pototatoes, and carrots until they are well done. The flavorful broth served with rice just warms up my soul.

Here's how I made my Nilagang Beef Short Ribs.

Needed:
3 lbs beef short ribs cut into 2 1/2 inch square cubes (do not use the ribs for grilling)
4 c water (approximately, but the amount of water you will use to boil and cook the ribs in should be enough to cover the ribs and about a cup more)
1/2 medium onion, sliced coarsely
2 T peppercorns
salt and pepper to taste
3 T patis
1/2 head cabbage, sliced 2 inches thick
carrots, sliced (use as much as you would like to eat)
potatoes, sliced into 2 1/2 inch sizes (use as much as you would like to eat)

1. Start off by washing the ribs under cold water.
2. Place the ribs in a large pot (you will only use one pot, so make sure this is big enough). Add the sliced onions, peppercorns, salt and pepper to taste. Place over heat, covered, to allow the meat to brown slightly.
3. When the meat has lost its pink color, add the water. Again, use enough water to cover all the meat, plus one cup more. Add the patis.
4. Boil on high for about 10 minutes and remove the beef scum that surfaces to the top of boiling water. Allow the meat to cook for an additional 35 minutes on medium heat. Do not keep opening the lid as this will slow the cooking process.
5. Check for meat tenderness. Cook more if not tender. When almost as tender as you would like, add the potatoes and carrots.
6. When the potatoes and carrots are tender (easily breakable), add the cabbages.
7. Check for seasoning and add salt or patis to your liking.
8. Enjoy over rice!

Tip: My mom always made mashed potatoes out of these potatoes used here. The potatoes come out very tasty because they were cooked in beef broth. To make mashed potatotes, simply fish out the potatoes, mash with a fork (they should be very tender to do) and moisten with some of the broth and some butter. Yum!