~~**Beef Caldereta (Kalderetang Baka)**~~

Ooops, I have been really rubbish and not updated this blog for over 2 months now :( It's been a very busy couple of months, and now things have started to calm down, there's no excuse for me not to update on a much more regular basis!

Anyway, I have just come home from my parents' house, where I had a really delicious dinner cooked by my mum. I was watching her cook it, which spurred me on to get back on here and blog about it.



Beef Caldereta cooking in the pan!

She cooked a dish called Beef Caldereta (or Kalderetang Baka in Tagalog), which is a popular Filipino stew most commonly served either at home or during festivities and gatherings. It is a Spanish-influenced dish (which is more commonly referred to as "Caldereta" in Spain), and is made up of beef (though chicken, pork, goat or even fish can be used), potatoes, carrots, tomato sauce and liver spread/pate. It has a canny resemblence to a typical English Beef Casserole, only in my opinion, Caldereta is richer and miles tastier.

I believe this was the second or third time my mum had attempted this dish after getting a recipe from a website, but already she has somehow become a pro in making it! Her first attempt was for a house-gathering she had with friends (Filipinos love to socialise and eat!), and they seemed to be very impressed!!

Unlike English Beef Casserole, which would typically be served with boiled or mashed (or any type of!)potatoes and vegetables, we did it the Asian way and of course, served it with rice. My mum also boiled some broccoli to serve as a healthy side.

And here is how is looked on the plate! It went down very well, and I am looking forward to trying to cook this myself, though I doubt it will be as good as this (coz mothers do it the best, right?)

Amen!
 

P.s. For the Japanese speakers out there, no this is not "Idiot Stew", "baka" (or "vaca" in Spanish) is cow (or beef in this case!) xxx