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Boiled Chicken and Vegetable Soup (Nilagang Manok)

Recipe by 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.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 4 people
Boiled chicken and vegetable soup in blue bowl

Ingredients
  

Chicken and broth

Vegetables

  • 1 head white cabbage (outer layer discarded) cut into wedges
  • 2 ears sweet corn peeled and cut into portions
  • 300 grams potatoes peeled and cut into two-inch cubes
  • 500 grams squash peeled, deseeded and cut into two-inch cubes
  • 200 grams sweet potatoes peeled and cut into two-inch cubes

Video

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id="MuY6j982" upload-date="2021-10-30T14:31:51.000Z" name="Boiled Chicken and Vegetable Soup (Nilagang Manok)" description="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." player-type="default" override-embed="default"]

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.
    Parboiling chicken until scum rises
  • Continue boiling for five minutes until scum rises to the surface.
  • Drain the chicken then rinse to remove all visible impurities.
    Draining and rinsing chicken to remove impurities
  • Place the cleaned chicken in a clean pot and cover with water.
    Chicken in pot with onion hlaves, garlic cloves and peppercorns
  • 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

  • Scoop out the cooked chicken and transfer to a bowl (discard the onion, garlic and peppercorns).
    Cooked chicken in bowl / Cabbage and sweet corn boiling in pot
  • Bring the broth to a boil then drop in the cabbage wedges and sweet corn.
  • When the broth is boiling once more, lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer the cabbage and corn for ten minutes.
  • Taste the broth and add more fish sauce (the cabbage and corn would have absorbed the saltiness of the broth).
  • Drop in the potato cubes, cover and simmer for another ten minutes.
    Cabbage, sweet corn, potatoes, squash and sweet potatoes boiling in broth
  • Add the squash and sweet potatoes, and simmer for another five to seven minutes.
  • Taste the broth once more and add more fish sauce, as needed.
  • Return the chicken to the pot and simmer with the vegetables for a minute or so.
    Simmering chicken and vegetables in a pot
  • Give the broth a final taste and, if needed, stir in more fish sauce.
Keyword Chicken Soup