Beef Pochero with Eggplant Sauce

You can cook Pochero with any other meat: chicken or pork but to really experience Pochero you have to do it with beef. This dish actually speaks of the Spanish influences in the Filipino culture with the addition of chorizo de bilbao in the ingredients.

There are many variations of this dish. Some doesn’t have tomato sauce while some prefer a wider array of vegetables and include potatoes,chickpeas and sweet potatoes. But whatever version it may be, the sweetness of the cavendish bananas (saba) is what brings out the flavor of the beef.

I prefer my Pochero with tomato sauce. I find it comforting when the somewhat sour taste of the tomato sauce meets the sweet taste of the cavendish banana. It’s like a warm hug on a rainy day… (I guess this stormy weather has an effect on me huh?)

Beef Pochero with Eggplant Sauce

Ingredients:

500g beef sirloin cut into chunks
½ head of cabbage, quartered
100g green beans, ends trimmed
1 bundle of pechay tagalog (bok choy),ends trimmed and leaves separated
1 pc chorizo de bilbao, sliced
3 pcs plantains bananas, sliced diagonally
6 cups of water
300g tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 pc beef bouillon/beef cubes

for the Eggplant sauce:
1 pc eggplant
¼ cup white vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:
Most people sauté garlic and onion in oil before adding beef but I prefer to cook it without doingthat part because it tastes the same and it’ll be healthier because there is no oil added.

• Simmer beef sirloin in water until tender.
• Mix in beef bouillon/beef cubes and tomato sauce then stir.
• Add chorizo de bilbao and simmer for a few minutes to allow the soup to be infused with the flavor of the chorizo.
• Add fish sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the cavendish bananas and simmer until tender.Then add the rest of the vegetables and simmer for 1-2 minutes so as not to overcook the vegetables.
• Serve with steamed rice and eggplant sauce. To make Eggplant Sauce: Boil eggplant, remove skin and mash with banana and sweet potato. Add vinegar,salt and pepper.