Exploring My Filipino Family Heritage with My Tita (and I share my recipe for Filipino Beef Nilaga)

This week my aunt came to visit me again from Australia. I’ve really loved her recent visits because she’s fun, endearingly eccentric, she has a zest for life at 70-something always traveling, is a savvy business woman, and most importantly she reminds me that I have roots. When my mom passed away 4 years ago, I realized that there was so much of my family history and special things about the Philippines that didn’t get passed down to me. I was born in the Philippines but was raised in the United States, and when we arrived as immigrants it was very important to our mom that we acclimate and become “Americanized”. I didn’t even speak English when I started kindergarten! So the last few years I’ve taken it upon myself to learn about and take pride in rediscovering my Filipino and Chinese roots. I really love having my auntie come to stay because she makes me feel like I can have a little bit of my mom around too. She asked my 4 yo son to call her “Lola” (meaning Grandmother in Tagalog). Wolfie wasn’t able to get to know my mother before she passed, so it’s wonderful to hear him running around the house calling for his his Lola, it’s so sweet!  

With my aunt I can hear about stories from back home, eat traditional Filipino foods, she gives me life and business advice, and she tells me about my mom when they were growing up together as children. Today I’m cooking us Beef Nilaga, a simple traditional Filipino beef clear broth stew that’s seasoned with salt and pepper and patis which is fish sauce. It has potatoes, carrots, bok choy, and cabbage yum… (We are asian, of course we eat hot stew even in sunny 80 degree weather!) I want to pass down these dishes to my boys and I hope they remember them as happy memories with their mom someday! Do you have any favorite family dishes that were passed down to you and you now make for your children?

By the way, few years ago my mother in law cooked Texas Hash for me while we were visiting her in New York and my mind was blown! It was so good and she couldn’t believe that I’d never tried it until then - and that I was so impressed by it LOL :) I've found that most moms have their tried and true recipes they know and love. So if you have a recipe you want to share with me, reply to this email because I’d love it! I'm sharing the recipe for my version of Beef Nilaga below. This could easily be made vegetarian/vegan by omitting the beef and fish sauce and using "Better Than Boullion" or any vegan or gluten free boullion (miso could even work!) If you try this recipe and like it, please let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Filipino Beef Nilaga Recipe 

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs chuck roast, cut into 1.5-inch cubes
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• half a head of cabbage, quartered
• 1/2-1 lb carrots peeled and cut to 2-inch pieces 
• 1/2-1 lb bok choy, chopped
• 2-3 big potato (russet or golden), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 and half onions, quartered
• 3 tbsp fish sauce (you can try substituting with 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part lime juice and don’t omit the boullion for that version)
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 cups of water (plus 3 more cups for later)
• 1 boullion cube / 1 tbsp Better Than Boullion (optional)

Method:

• In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat oil and season cut potatoes with salt and pepper and fry until it starts to get golden brown. No need to cook through. Remove and set aside.
• Season your beef shank with salt and pepper. In the same large pot, brown all sides of the beef over medium high. You can work in batches, remove and set them aside.
• In the same pot, season the onions with salt and pepper and briefly cook until slightly tender. Don't cook the onions down. Add the browned beef and cook together with the onions for about 2 minutes. Then, add the fish sauce. It's going to smell strong, but the end result will be a broth that has a lot of depth and flavor, but not fishy at all! Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes.
• Add the peppercorns, bay leaves, and 8 cups of water to the pot, mix together, and let it come to boil. Once comes to a boil, lower hear to medium to medium-low. Cover the pot and let simmer for 2.5 hours until beef is tender. While it's simmering, remove the impurities that come to the top. 
• After 2.5 hrs, add 2 cups water and taste. Add salt and pepper if you need to adjust seasoning. Add fried potatoes and carrots and continue to boil covered until tender. Then add cabbage and bok choy, cover again and boil until soft. Serve as is or over cooked Jasmin rice. 

Original recipe from https://hungrylittleasiangirl.com/2023/07/10/beef-nilaga-filipino-beef-soup/