Nilaga with a Twist of Coffee-mate- a recipe

One of my favorite dishes especially during cold or rainy season here in the Philippines is my mother's “nilaga” (means boiled), either boiled pork (baboy) or boiled beef (baka). Whenever I'm at home, this is the dish I'm looking into. We usually partnered this with rice and it's one of the easiest viands to make. A ll you have to do is prepare your ingredients then just put everything in the pot or casserole and let it cook until tender. You can add any vegetables of your choice.
There are different variations, you can have it as a clear soup or a thick one. It depends upon the vegetables you use and the soup stock or... your own style!
This boiled pork/beef with vegetables can give warmth and even satisfy the tummy in just a few sips. I will share not only how to do it but also my mother's secret ingredient to make it more delicious and creamier.

So let's start!!!

Ingredients :

• 1 kg of pork or beef cut into serving pieces (usually my mother's using the bony parts and for me spareribs is the best, but you can also use belly and other parts)

• 5-6 cups or 1L of water

• 1 onion, quartered

• 1/2 tsp. pamintang buo (peppercorn)

• salt to taste

• 1 piece of ginger

• 2 potatoes, quartered

• 2 sayote,quartered

• 2 medium sized corn (cut into 3 pieces)

• 3 pechay or cabbage leaves

• 2 scallions or green onion, sliced about 1”

• ½ cup of coffee-mate—coffee-mate???? is this a mistake?.. actually this is our secret ingredient,haha! I'm not joking, try it and you'll know..it makes the broth creamier.

Cooking Procedures :

1. Place the pork/beef in a big pot or casserole and pour the water . Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer until the pork/beef is tender for about an hour. Remove the coagulated blood/scum that accumulates on top of the broth.

1. Add the sliced onions, ginger, corn, peppercorn and season with salt. Simmer for 2 minutes. Put the potatoes, chayote (sayote). Cook until tender.

2. Remove from heat. Add pechay or cabbage leaves and the green onions (the remaining heat from the broth will cook them).

3. Add the coffee-mate/creamer ---(coffee-mate for nilaga??? Again I'm not joking).

4. Adjust the seasoning depending upon your taste.

5. Serve hot. Placed patis (fish sauce) with chili or toyo (soy sauce) with calamansi on the side. ENJOY!!! :-)

Other interesting notes.. ^.^!
I observe my mother's putting a spoon or a teaspoon into the pot/caserrole while cooking it, she said it's a technique if you want your tough pork/beef to be tender in no time during boiling. My curiosity grows again so I ask her why and why... she just told me it's a common technique she learned from grandma, because the spoon is metal and as we know, metal is a good conductor of heat, that heat can actually help to speed up the tendering process...somehow it could be!..:-)