March 13, 2018
Hey everyone! I am really happy today because it’s my day off from work. Yay! And since I woke up early today (early from my usual holiday sched), I decided to cook a Filipino dish which I was craving for months now, Kaldereta. I went to a grocery store near my house and bought the ingredients I needed, and did some ‘necessities’ shopping a bit too.
Kaldereta is a dish from the Philippines (brought by the Spaniards during their ‘stay’) and its name derives from Spanish word caldera meaning cauldron. It’s a meat stew from tomato paste (but it differ in every provinces, some uses atsuete), liver past and some vegetables like carrots, potatoes, bell pepper and olives.
So here’s a recipe I got from my favorite website when I’m in the mood for some decent cooking, Panlasang Pinoy.
- 2 lbs. Pork, cubed
- 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
- ¾ cup green olives
- 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
- 2 medium baking potatoes, cut into large cubes
- 2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 32 oz. beef broth
- ½ cup liver spread
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Heat the oil in a cooking pot.
- Once the oil is hot, saute the garlic and onion.
- Add the pork. Stir and cook for for 5 minutes or until the color turns light to medium brown.
- Pour-in the tomato sauce and beef broth. Let boil. Cover and simmer for 60 minutes.
- Add the liver spread. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
- Put-in the carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the olives and bell peppers. Cook covered for 8 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Turn-off the heat. Transfer to a serving plate.
- Serve. Share and enjoy!
But, a big BUT, when I cook, I usually add twist on it and not follow the ingredients lol. So here’s how I ‘followed’ the recipe.
I prepared the meat, oil and onion first while heating the pan. I cut the meat (which I didn’t even know what kind of meat was, pork or beef, but it do taste like beef so) according to MY bitesize and cut everything according to my preference.
I saute the garlic first then add the onion, wait a bit and added the meat.
I finally added the meat and waited for it to turn brown. I added to cups of water, nah, I used my wine glass to measure hehe.
While I was waiting for the meat to boil and get tender, I prepared the carrots and potatoes to save time. I usually do this because I hate waiting. I did a it of online surfing and dancing too.
When the meat was tender, I poured a pack of this Mama Sita’s Caldereta spicy sauce mix I brought from the Ph, so I no longer needed to put tomato paste and liver paste. It also has instruction and recipe at the back to keep you guided.
This is how it looked like after putting the mix, I added the vegetables and simmered.
I also sent pictures on my group chats because I was too proud of myself cooking something I have never imagined before, in fact it was my first Kaldereta, and one of them thought it was a Japanese curry! But nah, I was too happy to be upset, I sent another picture to my boyfriend and he asked me if I was cooking Menudo!
I told myself “stay positive!”.
I put olives and bell peppers too. I kinda regret I put too much olives though, I should’ve put a little.
Wait, wait, wait., dance, dance, dance and voila!!! Here’s my Kaldereta!
I didn’t add salt nor pepper because it taste perfect already, for me. But no kidding aside, it’s really good and I’ll probably share some at school.
When did the last time you cook for yourself?
When did the last time you cooked something and shared because you’re too proud of it?
Bored Sensei... 