Beef Mechado Recipe

Friends please bear with me since I cannot post well the pictures on my recipe because our digital cam said adios amigos already. It got drenched in the rain and we cannot do anything about it but to replace it anew. But don’t worry; hubby is doing everything just to get us a new one.

Anyway this recipe is my own rendition of beef mechado. The only difference I can see on beef mechado and beef caldereta is that beef calderata has liver into it while mechado has not but certainly the common ingredients will be potatoes, red bell pepper and carrots.

Since you will be using beef chunks to your mechado, it is wise to use a pressure cooker, unless you can just cook it for 45 minutes to an hour to keep the meat tender. Luckily, the beef meat here in India is tender so even if I don’t use a pressure cooker, I can still be able to make it soft for only 30 minutes.

Now going back to the recipe, what I used was 4 medium size fresh tomatoes which I sautéed with onions and used ¼ teacup beef stock for mashing it well. Most may prefer a can of tomato sauce or tomato puree which is also okay to use if you don’t have much time preparing your beef mechado. Below is the ingredients needed for cooking Beef Mechado:

Ingredients:

Beef chunks
Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Carrot
Red/ green bell peppers
Tomato puree/ sauce
Beef stock or beef bouillon
Salt
4 whole pepper corns
Ground black pepper
Bay leaves
Soya sauce
Water
Vegetable oil

Method / Preparation on how to cook Beef Mechado:

Step 1: As I have said this is my own rendition, some prefer to sauté their beef straight with garlic and onion; while for me, I prefer to boil the meat first to get it tender before sautéing it. In this way, I can get to set aside the beef stock for this recipe. So first is to boil the beef to get it tender. Once the meat is ready, set aside the stock and the meat.

Step 2: Cut the onions in quarters. While the potatoes, red bell pepper and carrots will also be cut into quarter portions. Just cut the carrots slanted for the style. On a pan, put oil and once its hot you can now sauté your garlic and onions and then put the boiled beef meat. Then just add soy sauce into it and then the tomato puree. In this portion I separately sautéed a while ago the fresh tomatoes with onions and beef stock so what I used was not canned tomato sauce.

Step 3: Once the tomatoes are in, put the remaining beef stock or you can use some beef bouillon into it to make it tastier. Add the whole pepper corns and bay leaves season it with salt. Cover the pan with lid and let it cook for about 10-12 minutes. After this, you can now put your potatoes and carrots.

Step 4: Wait for another 5-6 minutes and check your potatoes and carrot if they are done, not over cooked. After this you can now add your red or green bell peppers and sprinkle some ground black pepper. Do not over cook the red bell peppers; they are easy to cook so 2-3 minutes will do. Just keep the lid open else you will also get the veggies overcook. Serve with hot rice and with a smile.