Monday, May 4, 2009

Beef Caldereta - a great food to eat lunch!

Have you ever heard of the food Caldereta? This is a Spanish dish that was learned by the Filipinos. As you all might know, Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards many years back. Thus, we have inherited some words, names, & genes from them. And so were the food.

Caldereta is just one of the food we have inherited from Spain. As far as I can remember, they use goat meat for this recipe, but eventually, any other meat (except for fish) may be used for this dish.

At 9am in the morning, I woke up & wanted to cook something homemade. Everything should be from scratch. I cannot help but feel nostalgic about this dish. My grandfather has the best caldereta I have ever tasted! I had to retrace in my mind what I have learned from his caldereta. My lola (grandmother) was his partner when cooking delicious dishes on occasions. I felt like crying when I was already putting the crackers in the dish to make it a bit a sticky. My lolo (grandfather) used to say that he has the best caldereta in town, & I couldn't agree more. I have tasted so many delicious calderetas, but his always wins. I have never ever tasted anything like his own caldereta from anyone else.

I will share with you the recipe I have come up with. It's not my grandfather's recipe, but it tasted just like it! Delicious! Best when served with cooked rice.

Ingredients :

1/2 kilo beef (or any meat that is available, except fish)
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 onion, sliced
2 red bell peppers, *julienned (you can also use green or yellow bellpepper if you like)
1 garlic
3 potatoes, cut into big chunks
2 carrots, cut into big chunks
1 can of pineappple (chunks, tidbits, any)
green peas (you can use fresh or canned)
1 can of tomato sauce
Skyflakes (or any crackers), crushed (like bread crumbs)
grated cheese
salt
Ajinomoto or MSG or powdered black pepper

Procedure :
Boil the beef, a dash of salt & Ajimoto (or MSG) or powdered black pepper & vinegar, until tender. If you can poke or stick a fork easily into the beef, it is tender. You may put in more water if the beef isn't tender yet.

Once beef is tender, pour the pineapple's juice and 1 more cup of water. Let it simmer for 10mins. After 10mins, just leave the beef heated while you saute your garlic in another pan (big enough to cook the dish in). When almost brown, transfer the beef (only) in the pan. Stir occasionally. Put in the potatoes & carrots in the beef's stock, just to soften it a bit. Add the tomato sauce in the beef. Allow to simmer for 10mins. Transfer beef stock, potatoes, carrots, pineappple, & green peas on the beef. If vegetables are already soft when you stick a fork in, add crushed crackers & cheese. Mix. You can season to taste.

Enjoy your meal!!!


*Julienne is a food preparation in which state a food item is cut into long thin strips. (Wikipedia definition)

No comments:

Post a Comment