Caldo de Res: Guatemalan Beef Stew

 One thing to note with ‘caldos’ (stews in English) is the Guatemalan obsession of cooking their vegetables whole. Why waste all that time chopping veduras into bite-sized chunks when you can cook them in their entirety? This nutritious Guatemalan ‘caldo’ is available in most comedores or mercados but tastes even better homemade, especially if you just got your fresh produce from domingos organicos. Huisquil (a hard round veg with a green prickly skin) love it or hate it tastes at its best in any kind of caldo so if you’ve got one lurking at the back of your cupboard and you have no idea what to do with it, this may just be the recipe for you!

I’m never too sure which cuts of beef to ask for; I’m told Costilla de res o hueso de paloma work well for this recipe but if you tell the butcher which dish you’re preparing they usually know which cut is best to use. You ideally want beef sold on the bone in order to make a really tasty stock; if not you’ll need to add a stock cube to give it some extra flavour.

The vegetables and quantities listed below are just a suggestion, add whatever is available to you.

Should serve 4-5 people

·       1 pound of a whole cut of beef

·       Oil for browning the beef

·       1 small tomato with an ‘x’ cut in one end

·       1 small onion peeled with ‘x’ cut in one end

·       2 whole celery stalks (apio)

·       1 red chile pimiento, seeds removed and halved

·       1 yuca root, peeled and cut into chunks. If you can’t find yuca a couple of piece of calabaza or ayote works equally well thrown in with the skin on

·       2 whole carrots, peeled

·       1 huisquil, peeled, cutting out the core and quartered

·       2 corn on the cobs broken into halves

·       ½ a small head cabbage, quartered

·       4 whole small potatoes, peeled

·        

la salsa:

·       4-5 chiltepe chiles (the tiny green ones)

·       ½ a diced onion

·       About half a quetzal of chopped cilantro

·       jugo of 1 lime

Preparation

1.Cut the beef into portions, roughly one per person and leaving the bone attached to some of the meat. If this is difficult, cook the cut whole and divide up when ready to serve.

2. Heat some oil in a large pot or pressure cooker (without using the lid), add the beef and begin to brown turning frequently to cook on every side.

3. When the beef is almost browned add all the vegetables.

4. Add enough water to almost cover the vegetables; don’t be afraid to add more water later if it needs it. Cover the pan and cook on high heat to bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, add plenty of salt and pepper and the stock cube should you need it. Simmer until the beef is tender and the vegetables are cooked.

For the Salsa (for those that like it hot)

6.Toast the chiltepes until brown on every side, this is traditionally done on a comal but can be done in a frying pan without any oil, careful they don’t jump out and burn you! Put them into a chirmolera (they’re about Q15 or less in the market but every ligit host family should have one) if not use the back of a heavy cooking utensil to grind them up a little.
7. Add the diced onion to the chiltepe, the washed and chopped cilantro, and the limejuice. Mash briefly and set aside.

8. When the caldo is ready, serve in big bowls dividing up the meat and veg fairly with plenty of tortillas (black are always my preference) with the bowl of salsa and a plate of chopped lime slices and a couple of avocados quartered for the truly chapin experience.