French Beef Stew

When I thawed the beef cubes earlier I didn't really know what I was going to cook for dinner. The only beef cube dishes I've done so far are caldereta and braised beef. I didn't want to eat braised beef and Sweetie doesn't eat a lot when I cook caldereta since he doesn't like the taste of liver spread. So I leafed through my recipe books and thought I'd try to make some French Beef Stew since Sweetie asked me last weekend if I can cook beef stew.

The recipe is fairly easy and the ingredients were all available so I went for it. Here are the ingredients:

1/2 kilogram beef cubes
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
olive oil
2 potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup beef broth (I just dissolved 1 Knorr beef cube in hot water)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 cup water

How I made it:

1. Season the beef cubes with salt and pepper.
2. Coat the beef cubes with flour. Shake off the excess.
3. Fry on olive oil the beef cubes until they turn brown.
4. Add the potatoes, then add the thyme.
5. Add the beef broth and let boil for 2 minutes.
6. Add the crushed tomatoes and a cup of water. Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes (until the beef is tender).

Sweetie loved it!

Beef Caldereta (Kaldereta)

I have so far tried two beef caldereta (kaldereta) recipes. One is from the Nora Daza recipe book and the other from Kulinarya. The Kulinarya recipe provides a more traditional taste (with olives and chorizo) and has a longer cooking time, while Nora Daza's recipe uses basic ingredients. I made adjustments to the recipe to cater to what my boys like.

Ingredients:

400 grams beef cubes
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 huge red onion (or 2 small ones is okay)
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
4 medium potatoes, cut into half inch cubes
1-2 medium carrots, cut into cubes
3-6 pieces Purefoods chorizo, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
3 cups water
2 T olive oil
1 cup tomato sauce (237 ml pack)
1 can or 1/3 cup liver spread
2 T soy sauce
1/4 cup green olives
salt to taste
pepper to taste

How to cook:

1. Boil beef and reduce heat to simmer when it begins to boil. Allow to cook until beef is tender. Remove beef from water and set aside beef stock for the sauce.

2. Saute garlic, onion and tomatoes in olive oil. Add beef, tomato sauce, liver spread, soy sauce, reserved stock, potatoes, carrots and chorizo. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add bell peppers and olives. Allow to cook until potatoes are done. Season with salt and pepper.

Beef Teriyaki

Beef teriyaki is another dish I've wanted to try out cooking. I found a couple of recipes that had wine in it. My boys aren't really fond of dishes with wine so I looked for an alternative recipe. Found one online and revised it to taste. Definitely easy to cook.

Ingredients:

1/2 kg. beef
1 small can pineapple chunks
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. ginger

How to cook:

1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Marinate for 3 hours in refrigerator.
3. Stir fry the beef until it's brown.
4. Add marinade and let boil until beef is tender.

Slow Cooked Korean Beef Stew

I've been wanting to cook Korean beef stew but I had a hard time finding a bottle of mirin. I finally found a bottle at my (now) favorite SM Hypermarket branch - Buendia (will tell you why in another post). I find cooking beef dishes easier to prepare than pork ones (I'm allergic to chicken so I rarely make chicken dishes) and this dish was definitely easy to cook!

The ingredients:

1/2 kilo beef (should be rib type but I only had sirloin)
1/4 cup sugar (I used brown)
2 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. mirin
sesame oil
sesame seeds
2 beef cubes
2 slivers of ginger

How to cook:

1. In a pot boil the beef until tender. Add 2 beef cubes when it's boiling already.
2. Add soy sauce, sugar and ginger. Let it simmer.
3. When the water is almost half of what it was originally add the mirin and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Add some sesame oil just before you turn off the stove. Transfer to a serving bowl.
5. Add a dash of sesame seeds.