#ULOG 'My Cooking Experience: Nilagang Baka( Beef Soup) Today- with RECIPE'

It is wednesday. Me, my brother and my mother are together in the house. There is no special occassion or holiday but being together in the house is rare for us and and it must be a special day for me. We are not planning on an outing, we are just at home taking our time to talk with each other personally. As a family, we cherish the moment of being together and make it an extraordinary day among the other.

We all love food ,as with my family, there is no argument with that. Food is a big part of an occassion. Celebrations aren't perfect without it. Aside from the love to eat I have a little passion of cooking. One of the things that I love is watching someone especially my mother preparing dishes. I observe her and the menu when she is working on it. I am proud to say that my mom's cooking talent is excellent. The tastes of the foods she prepares are incomparable. They are just very good. Sometimes when we cook the same cuisine I offer to do it myself. I like to apply what I Iearn from my observations during the time she cooked such food. Although the result is not always as good as hers, I am improving from time to time.

Preparing a Meal Today

I was the cook in the house today and the dish I was preparing for our lunch is one of the most popular in our country. It is called the 'Nilagang Baka' or Boiled beef. Maybe some or all of the steemians especially the Filipinos know this food or even the process in doing it. I just like to share it here for some who are not familiar of this delicious meal. There are also different ways in preparing it that is why I share ours for it can be an option if some of you try to do it yourself. So here it goes.

Ingredients

• a kilo of beef
• a slice of squash
• a cabbage
• gabi(a root vegetable)
• tomatoes
• ginger
• garlic
• bell pepper
• onion and onion leaves
• vetsin( MSG)
• table salt
• cooking oil

Note that in each of the ingredients, their amount or volume should be proportional to the volume of the meal you wish to prepare.

Procedures

1. Wash the vegetables and the raw beef with tap water to ensure it is free from unnecessary particles.
   
2. Cut/ Slice the ingredients and the raw meat according to your desired sizes.
   
3. Add little salt to the meat and put it to the pot with minimal fire. Wait for the water from the meat to come out. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoon of cooking oil.
   
4. When the cooking oil looks hot enough it is time to add the garlic , onion, ginger and the bell pepper. Mix it well with the beef.
   
5. When the garlic, onion, ginger and the bell pepper looks cooked. Add enough water to the recipe for the soup. Let it boil until the beef is fork-tender.

Continue to test the beef if it is fork-tender. Do not hesitate to add more water as needed during this stage to maintain your desired amount of soup. Some beefs takes more time to be fork-tender causing the water to drop its level.

6.When the beef is fork-tender add the squash and the gabi( root vegetable). Wait for them to be fork- tender. When they are, add the cabbage and the onion leaves.

Leafy vegetables should be added last because they can easily get soft and might become unpleasant to eat or chew because of too much softness.

7.Monitor the leafy vegetables to be of just enough softness. Then add enough salt and vetsin(MSG) as seasonings according to your taste.

8.When all of that is done your delicious Nilagang Baka( Beef soup) is ready to serve. Happy eating!

Well, all of us enjoyed the delicious and the nutritious meal. A very perfect recipe for our lunch today.

I hope you get some tips from my cooking experience today. Thank you very much.

Your friend,

@elkusenero