Nilagang Baka, Filipino Beef Soup

This fork tender, Nilagang Baka is a Filipino Beef Soup recipe which is another delicious beef stew that is a chmapion among a big line of the many tasty Filipino beef recipes or Pinoy recipes. It’s simply stewing beef tenderloin with carrots, cabbage, string beans and spices, until beef is fork tender. That is our tasty, delicious Nilagang Baka or fork tender Beef Soup.

For my Nilagang Baka recipe or beef soup recipe, I used 2 large beef bone marrow, applied a little taste of fish sauce and cooked it along with the other ingredients mentioned below, until meat is fork tender. This may be similar to “Bulalo” since I used beef marrow, but I would not go that far, since my vegetable ingredients are different.

Ingredients: 3-4 servings

2 large chucks of beef bone marrow beef with meat
1 medium bowl of sliced cabbage
10-12 pieces string beans, cleaned, each piece is cut in an inch in length, or leave uncut if beans are in short length
3 large carrots cut in medium cubes
2 medium potatoes cut in medium cubes
3 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp peppercorns
1 small chunk of crashed ginger
2 medium dried bay leaves
2 medium chopped garlic cloves
4 medium cherry tomatoes
1 small size onion cut in small cubes or you slice them
1 tsp garlic powder
a pinch of salt & pepper to taste
1 lime cut in quarters

Cooking Procedure:

1. Wash to clean all ingredients. Cut all vegetables in small cubes. Put the beef marrow chuck on a pot, then pour 6 cups of water.
2. Add chopped garlic, onions, crashed ginger, garlic powder, peppercorn, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Stir to thoroughly mix ingredients.
3. Turn on the heat to medium bring it in to boil. Let it simmer for 1 hour or more, till meat is close to tender.
4. Stir ingredients occasionally. Get rid of excess fat off the surface of the sauce, if any. Pour 3 tbsp. of fish sauce. Keep it boiling until beef is fork tender.
5. Add the vegetable ingredients starting with potatoes. Leave it for 3 minutes, follow it up with carrots. Leave another 3 minutes, then add the string beans, cabbage and cherry tomatoes.
6. Leave it boiling for another 3 minutes while occasionally stirring, until the cabbage are rightly cooked and the meat is completely tender. Remove the pot from the heat to avoid overcooking of cabbage and string beans.
7. Add more salt or fish sauce, if desired. Add a squeeze of lime and  serve this tasty, delicious Nilagang Baka(fork tender Beef Soup) hot with steamed rice.

Tip: Do not overcook cabbage and string beans on your delicious beef stew. Leaving them half-cooked does not only give us the flavorful taste result. It also keeps the necessary dietary nutrients our body needs.