Chilean Stew - Pilar Hernández's Chilean Kitchen
Stew is another traditional Chilean stew. Personally, it was one of my favorite dishes to eat as a child; my favorite part was mashing the potatoes and carrots to make a purée with the stew's sauce. Delicious.
- 1 thinly sliced onion
- 2 peeled and sliced carrots
- 1 kilo of peeled and chopped red potatoes.
- 650 grams of beef cut into cubes
- 1/4 teaspoon of cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon of merkén or paprika
- 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
- 1 jar (227 grams) (8 oz.) of tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups of boiling water
- oil, salt
- In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Add the sliced onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Set aside.
- Place the pieces of meat and brown them for 3 minutes per side.
- Stir everything together and add the salt, cumin, oregano, and merquén.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of cold water.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, tomato sauce, dissolved cornstarch, and hot water to the pot. Stir and distribute well. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Taste and adjust the salt. Serve hot.
Note: This stew is served hot and the potatoes are usually boiling hot; be careful not to burn yourself. I don't know how, but I always forgot that detail when I was little.
In my family, the most traditional way to make it was with chunks of beef, but sometimes we made it with pork. I never had it with chicken, but it can certainly be made with lamb as well. It's very comforting in winter, but we eat it all year round.
It can be made with fresh tomatoes, in addition to the tomato sauce, but don't omit the tomato sauce because it adds a lot of flavor. Since ripe tomatoes are used for the sauces, they have more flavor than winter or spring tomatoes.
You can replace ½ cup of water with white wine if you wish.
Description
A classic Chilean dish.
