Picadillo

Picadillo is one of those dishes that reflect the Spanish influence in Filipino cuisine.  It is dish traditionally made with ground beef, tomatoes, and spicy seasonings such as cumin, paprika, etc.  The Filipino version is usually made with tomato sauce or paste, with raisins added, or boiled eggs, potatoes, red/green bell peppers.  If the dish is served with saba - apparently a local cardaba variety not usually found elsewhere (perhaps a plantain banana can be substituted) - the dish is called Arroz a la Cubana.

In my version, I always skip the raisins and potatoes, and add diced bell peppers and boiled quail eggs.  And while the traditional Filipino style of picadillo is saucy, using tomato sauce and beef, I like mine rather dry, and I use ground pork and real tomatoes.

The recipe -

quail eggs, about 2 dozen, hard boiled

about 500 grams pork tenderloin, ground coarsely
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
fresh ground pepper

1 large sweet onion, chopped coarsely
3 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 large tomato, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the ground pork tenderloin with the soy sauce and ground pepper.  Set aside for about 10 to 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the other ingredients.

Saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes.  Add the green pepper and ground meat.  Throw in the cumin and chili (and sometimes I even add crushed chili flakes because hubby likes it spicy).  Add the hard boiled eggs (shells removed, of course). Season accordingly to taste.

Note:  ground beef or ground chicken may be used instead of pork