IAMBRIGITTE : How to Cook: Beef Caldereta

It's almost midnight and here I am thinking about food. Usually, I'd be dreaming about burger and fries from Mcdo, but tonight I'm actually craving for something home-cooked. I realized it's been weeks, or maybe months, since the last time I cooked. Nakakamiss din pala magluto. When you cook, you get to eat what you want and make it taste like how you want it.

One ulam I definitely miss cooking is Beef Caldereta. I know it's not in any way as good as my Lolo's and my Tita's recipes but for me (and hopefully for Mr. X), it's good. Hayaan 'nyo na akong magbuhat ng sariling bangko. Hehehe! There are a lot of Beef Caldereta recipes available but let me just share with you how I cook mine.

Ingredients:

Garlic

Onions

Beef, cut into serving portions. I really don't know much about beef cuts but I usually get the part where there's a bit of fat.

Potatoes

Carrots

Bell Pepper

Liver Spread

Tomato Sauce

Let's start cooking:

Heat oil in a sauce pan and saute the garlic and onion

Put in the beef

Continue to saute, add salt and pepper to add flavor. Continue to cook until the meat becomes light brown. Better if pabayaan magmantika.

Add 2-3 cups of water and let it cook until the meat becomes tender.

Once meat is almost tender, add the potatoes and carrots

Actually, hindi ko alam if tama bang sabay sila. Until now, I still don't know which veggie should come first when it comes to cooking. Hehehe!

Add the liver spread.

For some, the liver spread is added first before water. It depends on you, really.

Let it boil, then add the tomato sauce.

Simmer for 5 minutes then add in the bell pepper.

At this point, I realized that I have too much water. Uh-oh! So I had to remove at least a cup since kaldereta is supposed to be a saucy dish, and not as a soup. As a tip, start with just a cup (or a cup and a half) of water then just add more if you think it needs more.

^_^