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Chicken, duck & turkey Vegetables Lunch / Dinner Main Courses Soups

Boiled chicken and vegetable soup (Filipino nilagang manok)

Published: 07.29.2022 » Last updated: 07.30.2022

Nilagang manok translates to boiled chicken. It’s the generic name for a wide array of rustic Filipino chicken and vegetable soups. What vegetable? Cabbage and potato combo is the most common. But, really, add whatever you like.

Boiled chicken and vegetable soup (Filipino nilagang manok)

It’s comfort food. And so easy to make. The slow cooking allows the chicken to flavor the broth. The chicken, broth and vegetables benefit from the flavors of the spices and seasonings.

Actually, make thatseasoning. Singular. The only seasoning used in this recipe is fish sauce. Why fish sauce? It’s not just saltiness that you get from it. Fermented food has an incomparable depth of flavor. Additionally,fish sauce gives the rather sickly-looking broth a beautiful golden hue.

But there’s so-so nilagang manok and there’s well-prepared and well-cooked nilagang manok. The key is choosing the right chicken, prepping it correctly and adding the vegetables in the correct order. Let’s take that up one by one.

Use a large chicken preferably free range

The best chicken for making soup is the kind that takes a rather long time to cook. I understand that dressed chicken in the grocery is not always labeled according to how they are meant to be cooked. As a guide, choose a whole free range chicken that is at least a kilogram and a half in weight.

Parboil the chicken to remove impurities for a cleaner and clearer broth

Parbaoiling chicken until scum rises

Even if scum does not pose health risk, I still prefer to get rid of it. And while it’s possible to skim off scum as it rises to the surface of the cooking liquid, there is a more efficient way of getting rid of impurities.

Parboil the chicken. Dump the cut up chicken into a pot, cover witn water, and leave to boil for about ten minutes. There is no need to skim off the scum.

Draining and rinsing parboiled chicken to remove impurities

Place a colander in the sink and dump the chicken into it. Rinse the chicken under the tap. Rinse them one by one and inspect carefully to make sure that all impurities have been removed.

Cooking chicken with onion, garlic and fish sauce

Take a clean pot, put the chicken in it and cover with water. Add the aromatics (I like onion halves, whole garlic cloves and peppercorns) and pour in fish sauce. Simmer the chicken until tender.

Drained boiled chicken in green bowl

Position a clean colander over a clean pot and drain the chicken in it. This accomplishes three things. One, you will be able to pick out the now useless onion, garlic cloves and peppercorns, and discard them. Two, you strain the broth so that it is super clear before you cook the vegetables. Three, there is no danger of overcooking the chicken.

Cook the vegetables in the strained broth

A smart tip: While the broth may be perfectly seasoned after the chicken has been removed, vegetables do soak up saltiness. This is especially true with potatoes. So, while cooking the vegetables, taste the broth occasionally and add more fish sauce, as needed.

Boiling potatoes and cabbage in chicken broth

Reheat the strained broth until boiling. Drop in the vegetable(s) that take longest to cook ahead of the others. In this recipe, that means the cabbage wedges and potato halves.

Boiling squash, potatoes and cabbage in chicken broth

After the cabbage and potatoes have simmered for about ten minutes, drop in squash cubes, and continue simmering.

Boiling squash, potattoes, cabbage and bok choy in chicken broth

When the squash is half-cooked (pierce the center of one piece to test), add bok choy and simmer for another five minutes. Drop in the chicken, wait for the broth to come to a boil, leave to boil for a minute then turn off the heat. By the time the chicken pieces are heated through, all the vegetables will be cooked through but none will be overdone.

Full recipe below

Boiled chicken and vegetable soup (Filipino nilagang manok)

Connie Veneracion
In the Philippines, nilagang manok is served as a main course.
In this recipe, a whole chicken is cut into portions and parboiled to remove impurities. The chicken is drained and rinsed, placed in a clean pot, covered with water and simmered with onion, garlic, peppercorns and fish sauce.
The vegetables are cooked in the broth in stages. The ones that require the longest cooking time go in first and the ones that take the shortest time to cook go in last.
Boiled chicken, cabbage, potatoes, squash and bok choy in serving bowl
Print
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins
Total Time 1 hr 45 mins
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

Chicken and broth

  • 1 whole chicken - about 1.5 kilograms, preferably free range
  • 1 onion - halved
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 5 peppercorns
  • fish sauce

Vegetables

  • 1 head white cabbage - (outer layer discarded) cut into wedges
  • 300 grams potatoes - peeled and cut into halves or quarters
  • 500 grams squash - peeled, deseeded and cut into two-inch cubes
  • 200 grams bok choy - halved and rinsed well

Instructions
 

Parboil the chicken

  • Chop the chicken into serving-sized pieces.
  • Place the chicken in a pot, cover with water and bring to the boil.
  • Continue boiling for ten minutes until scum rises to the surface.
  • Drain the chicken then rinse to remove all visible impurities.
  • Place the cleaned chicken in a clean pot and cover with water.
  • Add the onion halves, garlic cloves, peppercorns and a quarter cup of fish sauce.
  • Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until tender, around forty to fifty minutes.

Cook the vegetables

  • Drain the chicken (discard the onion, garlic and peppercorns).
  • Bring the broth to a boil then drop in the cabbage wedges and potatoes.
  • When the broth is boiling once more, lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer the cabbage and potatoes for ten minutes.
  • Taste the broth and add more fish sauce (the cabbage and potatoes would have absorbed the saltiness of the broth).
  • Drop in the squash, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for another five minutes.
  • Taste the broth once more and add more fish sauce, as needed.
  • Drop in the bok choy halves and simmer for another five minutes.
  • Return the chicken to the pot and boil with the vegetables for a minute or so.
  • Give the broth a final taste and, if needed, stir in more fish sauce.
Print
Keyword Chicken soup

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Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

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