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Boiled chicken and vegetable soup (Filipino nilagang manok)

Boiled chicken and vegetable soup (Filipino nilagang manok)

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.
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Modern Filipino
Keyword Bone-in chicken, Chicken and vegetable soup
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Chicken and broth

  • 1 whole chicken about 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), 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 (about ⅔ pound) peeled and cut into halves or quarters
  • 500 grams squash (about 1.1 pounds) peeled, deseeded and cut into two-inch cubes
  • 200 grams bok choy (a bit less than half a pound) halved and rinsed well

Instructions

Cook 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.

Combine chicken and vegetables

  • 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.