About

Filipino Cuisine

Since the Philippines, Throughout its history has been touched by foreign influences such as Malayan, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and American, you will find Filipino dishes diverse in the taste yet assimilated and distinctly native.Philippine Cuisine has a unique personality that is intriguing and surprising but pleasant to the plate.

While learning and experimenting with Filipino Cuisine, I found that the main dishes fall into four major categories. Firsts, there are sauteed recipes (guisado), where garlic and onions are the basic ingredients sauteed in a little vegetable oil. There are some certain dishes that include tomatoes as a necessary ingredient. To these are added any kind of meat, seafood , vegetable and seasonings to obtain healthy dishes. Second, the stewed recipies that include adobo that calls for vinegar,garlic and seasonings as the base for Native Filipino stews. Meat stews that are gently simmered in tomato sauce also fall into these categories. Third, there are the pan-fried recipes (pinirito) that the use special marinades or just salt and pepper as seasonings in any type of meat, poultry or seafood. The cooking is done in a skillet with little or just enough vegetable oil. Fourth, the soup or boiled recipes (nilaga), wich are served as main dishes include generous amounts of meat, poultry or sea food simmered gently in water with onions and vegetables. These are usually flavored with fish sauce and seasonings. A variation is the addition of garlic and ginger to obtain a special taste. This category also includes the pleasantly tart or sour soups (sinigang), flavored with lemon juice or tamarind.

Happy Cooking!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Beef Mechado

Estimated cooking time: 1 hour





Mechado Ingredients:

1 kilo of beef cut into chunks
1/8 kilo of pork fat cut into strips
4 onions, peeled and quartered
5 medium potatoes, quartered (optional: fried)
1 medium sized carrot, sliced in 1/2" sections
2 red bell pepper, sliced
2 cups beef stock or 2 bouillon cubes dissolved in water
3 bay leaves (laurel leaves)
1/4 -cup vinegar
2 cups tomato sauce or 1/2 cup tomato paste
1 cup soy sauce
salt & pepper to taste


Mechado Cooking Instructions:

Cut an incision on the beef chunks and insert a pork strip in the middle (mitsa)

In a casserole, combine the beef (with the fat), tomato sauce, soy sauce, bay leaves and beef stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until the beef is almost tender

Add the vinegar and let boil for a minute or two

Add the potatoes, onions, carrot, and bell pepper

Let simmer until potatoes and carrots are cooked - occasionally stir to thicken sauce

Serve hot with white rice


Beef Mechado Cooking Tips:

Pressure cook the beef with the beef stock for faster cooking time.

Fry the potatoes before adding to the casserole.

Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil and stir when the mechado dish is almost done for added flavor.

0 comments:

Filipino Recipe   © 2008. Template Recipes by Emporium Digital

TOP