Nilagang Manok (Filipino Chicken and Vegetable Soup)

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 potatoes combo is the most common. But, really, add whatever you like.

It’s comfort food. And so easy to make. Nothing can be simpler than just throwing everything into a pot and leaving them there to cook. 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 that seasoning. Singular. The only seasoning used in this recipe is patis (fish sauce).

Why patis? It’s not just saltiness that you get from patis. Fermented food has an incomparable depth of flavor. Additionally, patis gives the rather sickly-looking broth a beautiful golden hue.

Nilagang Manok (Filipino Chicken and Vegetable Soup)

A very versatile dish, feel free to add or substitute vegetables. Carrot, squash, spinach, kale…

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Modern Filipino

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Author: Connie Veneracion

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken about 1.5 kilos, cut into serving pieces (see notes after the recipe)
• 8 cups chicken bone broth (you may need more)
• 1 head garlic
• 1 whole onion unpeeled, cut into halves
• ½ teaspoon peppercorns
• patis (fish sauce)
• 2 potatoes peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 small head white cabbage or ½ of a large head, cut into wedges
• 2 bunches Chinese cabbage leaves only (we reserved the stalks for a stir fried dish)

Instructions

• Place the chicken pieces in a large thick-bottomed pot. Pour in enough water to cover. Set over high heat and bring to the boil and leave to boil briskly for five minutes
• Strain the chicken and discard the water. Rinse the chicken pieces and make sure to get rid of any impurities.
• Place the rinsed chicken in a clean pot and pour in the chicken bone broth. Set over high heat.
• With a sharp pointed knife, pierce the garlic in several places, and add to the chicken.
• Add the onion, peppercorns about two tablespoons of patis to the chicken.
• When the liquid comes to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 40 minutes. Taste occasionally and add more patis, as needed.
• Add the white cabbage and potatoes to the chicken. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
• Taste the broth and add more patis, if needed (see notes after the recipe).
• Drop in the sweet potato wedges. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Taste the broth again and add more patis, as needed. Add the Chinese cabbage leaves, pressing them into the broth. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
• Taste the broth one last time, adding more patis, as needed, before serving.

Cook’s Notes

Native chicken, the kind that needs long and slow cooking, is best for making nilagang manok. In unavailable, free range chickens is the next best thing. They are more flavorful and they yield excellent broth. If you use either of these two, you can cook the chicken in water rather than chicken broth. 

Why add patis (fish sauce) several times? It’s called layering the flavors. As the ingredients cook, they soak up the saltiness of the broth. First, it’s the chicken. It gets the saltiness leaving the broth wanting more flavor. So, before you add the cabbage and potatoes, you need to add more seasoning. Potatoes are notorious for soaking up salt. So, before you add the sweet potatoes, you adjust the seasonings again. And so on, and so forth.

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