Filipino Whole30 Eats: Slow Cooker Beef Kaldereta

So many of our dishes are slow-simmered, a legacy of a more leisurely-paced, time-abundant era. This Filipino version of stew – kaldereta – exemplifies this tradition of slow food. This dish usually takes several hours of semi-attentive cooking, with the cook checking on the steaming pot now and then, giving it a stir, testing the tenderness of the meat, adding ingredients in the proper sequence.

Modern life has certainly shortened our available time, but it has also provided us with new tools to help us keep the best part of at least some of our traditions. Which is my roundabout way of saying, man am I glad someone invented the slow cooker. It takes on the most time-consuming part of cooking dishes like this. I can put everything in the cooker in the morning and come home to dinner all ready for me. So things tend to balance out, in the end.

Translation
Kaldereta (kahl-deh-reh-tah): Filipino slow-cooked stew; goat meat is traditionally used, but beef, chicken, and pork versions are common as well; derived from the Spanish caldera, or cauldron.

Kaldereta with cauliflower rice

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. beef, cubed
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup boiled chicken liver, minced with a fork or blended into a paste in a food processor (you can also use liver spread at a pinch)
• 1 large yellow sweet potato, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 medium carrots, cubed
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2/3 cup green olives
• 1 can (14 oz.) tomato sauce
• 14 oz. of water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 bay leaves

Instructions

1. Heat your favorite cooking fat in a large pan in medium heat. Sauté the garlic and onions until the onion starts to soften.
2. Add the beef into the pan and sear the pieces on all sides. Do not cook through, just enough to brown them.
3. Place the beef, garlic, and onions in your slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients except the green olives. Mix everything thoroughly. Gently push all the solid ingredients down so they are submerged in the tomato sauce.
4. Set the slow cooker on low and set the timer to 8 hours.
5. If possible, at about the 7 hour mark, add the olives. If not, just add them when everything else is cooked.
6. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

Makes about 4-5 servings. This is good with cauliflower rice.

How this is Whole30
It took just a few changes from the usual kaldereta recipe to make this Whole30: potatoes were replaced with sweet potatoes, and green peas were omitted.

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