Beef Kaldereta (Spicy Tomato Beef Stew)
Fork-tender beef slow-braised in a thick tomato and liver sauce with bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, and olives. A fiesta favorite, made pork-free.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg beef chuck or brisket, cut into 4 cm cubes
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 whole head garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 can (400 g) crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups beef stock or water
- 1 tbsp fish sauce (patis)
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp beef liver spread, or 100 g cooked beef liver, pureed
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 2 carrots, cut into 3 cm chunks
- 2 red bell peppers, cut into 3 cm pieces
- 1/2 cup pitted green olives
- 1 to 2 red finger chilies, sliced (optional)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
- Pat the beef dry and season all over with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high. Sear the cubes in batches until deeply browned on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch. Give the pieces room so they brown instead of steam. Set the seared beef aside.
- Lower the heat to medium. In the same pot, cook the onion until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes until it darkens, then add the crushed tomatoes and bay leaves.
- Return the beef and its juices to the pot. Pour in the stock and fish sauce, bring to a boil, then lower to a bare simmer. Cover and cook for 90 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beef is fork-tender. Add a splash of water if it looks dry.
- Add the potatoes and carrots. Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife slides through them easily.
- Whisk the liver spread with a ladle of the hot sauce until smooth, then stir it back into the pot. Add the bell peppers, olives, and chilies if using. Simmer 10 minutes until the sauce is thick and glossy and the peppers are just tender.
- Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, or a little more liver spread. Rest for 5 minutes off the heat, then serve hot over steamed rice.
Kaldereta is a fiesta stew: fork-tender beef in a thick, faintly sweet tomato sauce loosened with liver spread and studded with peppers, potatoes, and olives. Plenty of old recipes build it on pork, or a mix of pork and goat. This version is beef from the first sear to the last simmer, so it stays honestly pork-free without giving up the deep, saucy character that sends everyone back for a second scoop of rice.
Cook’s notes
The liver spread matters. It is what gives kaldereta its signature body and gentle sweetness. Use a proper beef liver spread, or puree your own cooked beef liver. Leave it out and you still have a decent tomato beef stew, but not real kaldereta. Because it is beef liver, the dish stays pork-free.
Choose the right cut. Chuck and brisket both reward the long braise and turn silky as the collagen melts. Beef shank with a little bone gives the sauce extra body. Avoid lean cuts like sirloin, which dry out and go stringy long before they get tender.
Know when it is done. The beef should give with light pressure from a spoon and pull apart with no chew. If it still resists at the 90 minute mark, add a splash of stock and keep simmering in 20 minute stretches. Rushing this step is the most common way kaldereta goes wrong.
Round out the sauce. Some cooks stir in a spoon of grated cheese at the end for a fuller, glossier sauce, and a tablespoon of unsalted butter does the same job. Both keep the pot pork-free.
Make it ahead. Like most Filipino braises, kaldereta is better the next day. Cook it, cool it, refrigerate, and reheat gently with a splash of water. The sauce sets and the beef soaks up even more flavor overnight.
Serve it the way most Filipino tables do, with a mound of steamed rice to catch the sauce. If you are building a full pork-free spread, pair it with something bright and tangy like Fish Escabeche, or keep it all braise with a pot of Chicken Adobo. For more classics rebuilt without pork, browse the rest of Ayoko ng Baboy.