Beef Caldereta (Kaldereta)

[Maggie Mae]

I hope this is OK. I don't know if we are supposed to keep all of our recipes to a mega thread or if we can post them individually. 

Okay. So Beef Caldereta is basically stew. It's a filipeno dish, but there's nothing too crazy about it**.

**I know, picky eaters abound and there's a good portion of you who will NOPE right out when I say the word liver. Bear with me.  

First, you'll want to gather the ingredients and prep them. Get some potatos and cube them. If you use canned potatoes, don't add them until the end, with the bell pepper. 

Two large carrots - cubed. These should be somewhat large cubes 1-2 inches. 

Chop up an onion. 

Chop up 4 cloves of garlic

two pounds or so of bottom round roast. You can buy the stew meat, but it's cheaper and more flavorful to just cut a bottom round yourself. 

Two cups tomato sauce (16 ounces, two small cans)

Two tablespoons tomato paste

Two cups water. 

Mince up ten or so thai chiles. We chop the ends off and stick them in this tiny food processor that I wanted to link for you but doesn't seem to exist anymore. 

1/2 cup pitted green olives 

1/2 cup Filipino liver spread (Or white people liver pate if you don't want to drive across town to the asian market.) 

1/2 cup shredded cheese. I have "mexican blend" on hand 350+ days of the year so I use that. Cheddar is fine also.  

One Red and One Green bell pepper, cube those up. 

 

Okay, so once you've prepped everything, you have some options here. The carrots and potatos need to be browned first, and then removed from the heat. I usually use a separate pan for this.  Then cook up the onions and garlic, being careful to burn the garlic, add the meat. I do this step in the pot that it will stay in. Once the beef is browned on the outside, you can add water, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and the chili peppers. Bring to a boil. If you have that foamy stuff from the connective tissue, skim that off the top. Add salt and pepper. 

Lower the heat. cover and set a timer for 90 minutes. 

Add the carrots, potatoes, and then cook until tender or you feel like you've done enough. 

Add the liver paste and shredded cheese and stir. The liver and cheese thicken the sauce and give it a bit of a complex flavor. If you aren't into liver, put like half a cup of peanut butter in, but skip the cheese. 

We like to add some ginger as well. 

A few minutes before you want to serve it, add the green peppers and olives and stir well. Serve with rice. 

[Maggie Mae]

*** Careful to NOT burn the garlic *** 

The whole "don't burn the garlic thing is why I always do all of the chopping before starting. (I also clean as I go so I don't have a ton of dishes.) I can't believe I made a point to say "burn the garlic." Nooooo - do not burn the garlic. It will ruin everything.