Traditionally, picadillo was cooked with either beef AND chayote, or beef AND potatoes. My father (who was a really fantastic cook) used to make both versions, depending on which vegetable was available. So did I, until a few nights ago when I just felt that beef AND chayote was already too boring, while beef AND potatoes just looked too colorless. A little adventure in the kitchen turned out a new version of picadillo that my family couldn’t get enough of!
Ingredients
- 3/4 kilo of stewing beef
- 2 chayote (about 1/3 kilo)
- 1 large carrot
- 3 large potatoes (about 1/3 kilo)
- 2 onions, diced
- 6 plump tomatoes, diced
- 1 tbsp. of minced garlic
- 2 tbsp. of cooking oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- finely chopped onion leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Cut beef into 1″ x 1″ cubes.
- Heat saucepan.
- Pour cooking oil.
- When oil is hot, add onions. Stir for 10 seconds.
- Add garlic. Stir for another 10 seconds.
- Add beef cubes. Stir until beef is no longer pink.
- Add tomatoes. Stir until tomatoes start to liquefy.
- Add enough water to cover. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until beef is tender (this cold be anywhere from 1-1/2 to 2 hours; I normally boil beef for 2 hours to make sure that it is very tender). Check the liquid once in while to make sure that there is enough to cover the beef cubes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables by cutting them into 1″ x 1″ inch cubes. Peel and cut the potatoes just before adding them to the pan to avoid discoloration.
- When beef is tender, turn up heat and add chayote. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Turn up heat again and add carrots. Bring to a boil once more, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Turn up the heat once more, add potatoes, bring to a boil and simmer for 7 to ten minutes. Adjust seasonings. The potatoes will absorb a lot of the salt and more salt may be necessary.
- That’s it! Your picadillo is ready!
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 2 hour(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
Hi Connie! This one is also my husband favorite kasi nakakain sya one time sa office nila then I tried this one and it was a hit pa din…..he!he!he!
Hi Miss Connie. Ganito pala dapat ang itsura ng Beef Picadillo. Yung nabili ko kasi sa Filipino restaurant dito, mukhang Giniling kaya nagtataka ako kung ano difference ng dalawa. From your post, kaya siguro maalat yung beef picadillo nila kasi walang potatoes, hindi na-absorb yung salt. Anyway, will try the recipe. Looks simple enough, kayang kaya ng isang amateur gaya ko =)
Hello Ms Connie!
I’ve been an avid fan of your blog for two years now, and all I can say is your site is incredible!!! Every time I want to cook something I just browse @ your site. Because of that I always received lots and lots of praises and compliments about my cooking… It was all worth it. Thank you so much for all the information most of all the recipe that you’ve shared to us. More Power!!!
anyway I just tried this picadillo recipe and it was excellent… myself my very full husband loved it!