One dish, served three ways

The Philippines is known to have the longest Christmas celebration. Christmas jingles start as early as September, decorations are up by the end of Undas, and stay until January. In between, there are countless Christmas parties, get-togethers, and family reunions. The holidays are just around the corner and, in a few blinks, we’d be rushing to get our appetizers, main courses, and desserts arranged on the table as family and friends start pouring in for Noche Buena.

This a great time to show off those creative culinary creations. There are many ways to go about preparing the holiday dishes. There are always the safe crowd favorites like lechon or macaroni salad. Appropriate for family reunions, you can whip up your family heirloom recipes, which often include lola’s version or Nanay’s of a Filipino classic such as kare-kare. If you’re up for a challenge, you can play Masterchef with an international cuisine theme like Japanese, Spanish, or Italian food.

Not everyone, however, has much free time in this fast-paced world. Our party preparations need to be “wais” or practical. Whatever is put on the table has to be delicious, within budget, quick to prepare, and filling. I’d like to share a recipe that you can serve in various ways.
The inspiration here—caldereta. It is presented in three versions that could impress (or shock) your guests. Caldereta is a tomato-based Filipino stew made with beef or goat meat. Many would argue that caldereta uses only goat meat while the beef counterpart is called bakareta instead. Regardless, every Filipino is familiar with this dish. It has become comfort food for many. It is also a great way to showcase local flavors with a different spin.

Let’s review our checklist.
* It has to be delicious. Flavor-wise, you already have a winner. Everyone loves or is familiar with this stew.
* It has to be within budget. This version uses ground beef, which isn’t as expensive as stewed cuts of beef.
* It has to be quick to prepare. Because we use ground meat, this is easier and faster to cook.
* It has to be filling. The variations I will show you can stretch this mixture by cooking it with different starches to make it more abundant and filling.

Let us take the flavors of caldereta and turn it into a dumpling, baked potato, and paella.

Base Recipes

Caldereta Beef Mixture:
500g ground beef
150g carrots, small dice
200g potatoes, small dice
100g green peas
3 tbsp. Caldereta mix (I use Mama Sita’s brand. It packs a lot of flavor to your dish)
Salt and pepper
Water, as needed

Method:
1. Heat a pan over medium-heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper.
2.  Place into the pan, and let the oil render out. Depending on the fattiness of the meat, there could be more or less oil as needed. If the mixture is very lean, you can add more oil. The meat will brown in the process.
3. When the meat is browned, add the carrots, potatoes, and green peas. Stir and saute.
4. Add the calderata mix.
5. Once it is mixed well, add a little water until half of the mixture is submerged. Bring to a boil, and lower flame to simmer. It is done when the vegetables are cooked. Adjust the seasoning with more caldereta mix or salt and pepper.

Tomato-Pimiento Sauce:
250g tomato sauce
80g canned pimiento
30g red onion, chopped fine
10g garlic, chopped fine
Cooking oil, as needed
1-2 tbsp. Caldereta mix (I used Mama Sita’s brand)
Salt and pepper

Method:
1. In a blender or food processor, blend tomato sauce and canned pimiento until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a pan, sauté red onion and garlic until fragrant.
3. Pour in the tomato-pimiento mixture and mix well.
4. Add in caldereta mix. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer.
5. Simmer for five to eight minutes, and season with salt and pepper.

Variations:

Caldereta Dumplings:

Notes:
* I gave the mixture a quick grind in the food processor to make the mixture finer. It makes your dumpling filling more compact.
* There are many ways to seal a dumpling, you can choose from the different designs in YouTube tutorial videos. I chose the “gyoza style.”
*  You can make these ahead of time and freeze them. Cook them directly from the freezer, no need to defrost.

Method:
1. Place at least 1/2 tbsp of filling into the center of a round dumpling wrapper (depending on the size of the dumpling wrapper, you can increase or decrease the amount). Pleat the sides to seal.
2. To cook, place dumplings on a nonstick-pan (pleated side up). Turn on the heat, and pour hot or boiling water until you cover half of the dumplings. Cover and steam for about 10 minutes. If you are cooking from frozen, it could take longer.
3. The dumpling wrapper will turn from white to a light flesh color and more translucent as it cooks. Once the water has evaporated, add a bit of oil to fry and brown the bottom of the dumplings. Fry another time for five minutes or until the bottom is browned and crispy.
4. Serve immediately with the tomato-pimiento sauce on the side.

Caldereta Baked-Potatoes:
1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly.
2. Place clean potatoes in a pot filled with room temperature water. Potatoes should be fully-submerged in water.
3. Boil until potatoes are cooked through.
4. Take the hot potatoes out and with a knife, make a cross incision. Do not cut through the potato.
5. Gently open up the potato but make sure it remains hole and in-tact. Season a little with salt.
6. Mix the beef mixture with the tomato-pimiento sauce.  (Cold mixture is okay, it will just take longer to heat up in the oven.)
7. Top the potatoes with the beef mixture. You can add any melting cheesing on top.
8. Broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and the sauce is heated through.

Caldereta a la Paella:
Notes:
    Traditionally, bomba rice is the best variety for paella. You may get this from Spanish specialty store but it does come with a heavier price tag.  Any short-grained rice is great for substitution (Japanese or Arborio). You can find the variety that is within your budget. I have tried cooking this using the rice we typically consume every day and it came out good too.

    Keeping up with the tradition, paella is served in a paellara. Presentation-wise, it also adds a nice touch. You may, however, use whatever non-stick pot or pan you have. You may even cook this in a rice cooker! The method I am going to show you is the stove-top one.

    Every type of rice has a different water to rice ratio. A quick search in Google should give you reliable estimates. For me, as a rule of thumb, the ratio that I work around with is 1 rice:1.25 liquid, and I adjust accordingly. For this dish, use stock (homemade or store-bought) for more flavor. Just measure the stock, and season accordingly. Once the rice is cooked, you can no longer adjust the seasoning of the paella. Make sure that the stock is hot so the rice immediately starts cooking.

    This is not a traditional paella recipe. The word “a la” only means “in the manner of.” Literally, this is means “caldereta cooked in the manner of a paella.” With that, you are the boss of your own paella and you can add whatever ingredients you like. For me, I’d like to keep it minimal. One or two toppings is more than enough for me. I used a canned “paella mix” that has red bell peppers, peas, and a bit of seafood, and I added some shrimp on top.

For this recipe I used:
300g uncooked Japanese rice
380g beef stock (more if needed)
250g of the beef mixture
3-4 tbsp. tomato-pimiento sauce
Serves 6

Method:
1. In a paellara, sauté the ground beef mixture and paella mix with oil.
2. Add in washed and drained rice. Mix until every grain is coated with oil and slightly toasted.
3. Stir in the tomato-pimiento sauce.
4. Add in the hot stock. Give it a one final mix and cover the pan with a lid or foil.
5. Under low flame, cook for about 25 minutes.
6. Once the liquid is almost evaporated, check the doneness of the rice. Add some more stock if it needs more cooking.
7. Top with peeled and cleaned shrimps (if using), and cover again to cook the shrimps.
Note: shrimps cook fast, so add it toward the end of the cooking only so you do not overcook the shrimps.

May your holidays be filled with love, merriment, and delicious food! — Alma Wendy Yu