Every time I feel pretty smug about myself, life has a way of reminding me that I am not all that.
During the last few days leading up to our Las Vegas trip, G and I lived on canned goods~chili beans for him and corned beef for me. A contractor was scheduled to replace the carpet with wood flooring and repaint the whole downstairs area of the condo while we were on vacation and we had to move all the living/dining room furniture and kitchen appliances to the garage to facilitate the mini renovation. I don’t mind the occasional ginisang corned beef but after five successive meals of the same dish, I was ready to take the can to the next level. I’ve always enjoyed New England boiled dinner so I thought, why not transform my next canned corned beef into a nilaga? Oh my, the corned beef nilaga I made for lunch was so simple and quick to make yet was very filling and flavorful. What a delicious way to reinvent the wheel, I thought. I was so proud of myself I almost broke my shoulder trying to give myself a pat on the back. Then, of course, Google came raining on my parade. As the below online search shows, I ain’t the only genius in town. Not only did they think of using canned corned beef in nilaga first, they’ve done it better. I mean, sinigang na corned beef? Can’t wait to give that a try!
- 4 cups water
- 1 tablespoon beef base (or 1 piece beef bouillon)
- 1 small onion, peeled and quartered
- ½ teaspoon pepper corns, crushed
- 1 large potato, peeled and cut into cubes
- 5 to 6 green beans, ends trimmed
- 1 (12 ounces) can corned beef, chunky-style
- ½ cabbage, quartered
- salt and pepper to taste
- In a pot over medium heat, combine water, beef base, onion and pepper corns. Bring to a boil, stirring until beef base is dissolved.
- Add potatoes and cook until tender. Add green beans and cook until half-cooked. Add corned beef and cabbage. With back of spoon, break corned beef into desired pieces. Continue to cook until beef is heated through and vegetables are tender yet crisp. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
As an English man I always enjoyed Corned Beef in the UK and Canada. Now I live in the Philippines. Although the brands of Corned beef might taste OK they can not compare with western brands. Why oh why do I have to check the corned beef and remove bits of skin, vein, fat and something I’m never sure what it is before I can start cooking. Filipino Corned beef would not be accepted in western counties. Please oh Please recommend a brand of Filipino Corned beef that is acceptable or an out of the country brand in keeping with that produced in the west.
Hahaha, Brian, I am so sorry but I had to laugh when I read your comment. My boyfriend is American and he can’t understand how I can possibly eat the canned Filipino corned beef. He compares it to dog food! The funny thing is, the canned stuff is one of my favorites but I do not like REAL corned beef or what you call New England Boiled dinner.
Have you tried Hereford brand?
Delimondo is a Philippine brand of corned beef. Try it. It’s really good but a tad expensive compared to other local brands.
My husband who mostly does the cooking in our kitchen cooks Stewed corned beef, now I show him this recipe as a variety!☺
Hello Bing
Hope you like it 🙂
Gotta try this one 🙂
As a mother ( and med student) currently living in Manila but originally from California, Its hard to think of everyday qick and easy recipes, especially if its not what you grew up with ..so a big THANK YOU for your website.. It is now my go to site for recipes
Hello Ally
I am glad you are finding the site useful. Here in California, we have to substitute at times as ingredients are not always available or as fresh as they should be. I envy you, I am sure your trips to the wet markets are an adventure 🙂
how about the onion?
Corrected, I included the adding of the onion in the steps list. Thanks 🙂
wow! will try this!
Please do, it’s so easy to make and so good 🙂
Hi I’m enjoying your beautiful site and mouthwatering recipes. However I do have one suggestion. Although it’s cute and makes your page look unique, that cursive font is very hard to read and leads to lots of frustration, almost to the point of not wanting to read it. Just a friendly suggestion. Keep the awesome recipes coming!
Hi Martin
Thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate hearing your thoughts. I choose that font because I thought it will, as you said, make my posts a little different (kind of like short notes on recipe cards) but you are not the first person who had difficulty with the cursive font. I’ve been wanting to change it for months now but I don’t know how to change my site’s design. I need to contact my website designer and have it modified to a more readable font. Thank you so much again.
This is first time I know we can actually make nilagang corned beef! I haven’t thought of that. Thanks for sharing.
It was delicious 🙂