A Filipino Comfort Food

My favorite childhood memory consisted of mischievous adventures with friends, birthday parties, christmas parties at school, and most of all my mom's special Sunday food! I had a lot of good memories growing up in the Philippines but one thing that I would keep craving for is my mom's cooking (thank God she lives just ten minutes away). Growing up in a small town, where majority of people grew their own food (ha! organic), we did not get to eat meat as often as we can because it was expensive. Our regular meal consisted of soup, vegetables, dried fish, fish, ramen noodles, and sardines. Mind you, it was still the best food and up to date, I still often crave for some sardines with rice. So, it is often a luxury for us when my mom would go to the city for grocery, which means hotdogs, cornbeef, and ham to stuff ourselves with until we get tired.

All of those are great memories that I will forever cherish, but, there is only one thing that I would always look forward to. Our Sunday lunch meal! Every Sunday after church, my mom heads over to the market to get the freshest vegetables and meat from the butcher. She would make a big pot of beef soup that consisted of potatoes, chinese cabbage, sweet potatoes, and plantains. I remember it being a very hearty and satisfying meal especially when it is served with rice.

On Sunday, I was rather feeling nostalgic thinking about my chilhood. It was cold outside and I wanted something very hearty to eat. Then, I thought about paying homage to my mom's Sunday meal. It is easily one of my favorite comfort foods that stays close to my heart. Now that I am comfortable in life and can afford to have as many meat as I want, I will still forever treasure those times.

Here is my own version of my mom's beef stew soup. It is very easy to prepare and make. The only thing that takes up your time is chopping all the ingredients. Once you have everything in the pot, you can resume other chores that you are doing.

Ingredients:

Grassfed Chuck Roast (this is what I had at the moment, you can use brisket, short ribs, etc). Cut this in cubes. Boil in at least 4 cups of water until tender along with chopped onions, bay leaves, peppercorns, and ginger. This will take atleast an hour or so. Since I used grassfed beef, it did have that much fat in it, so I didn't have to take out the fat scums floating on top while the the beef was boiling. Once your meat is tender, add the potatoes and sweet potatoes and wait until tender. Once the potatoes are cooked, seasoned to taste. I added a little fish sauce and some soy sauce for flavoring. Add your bokchoy and simmer a little bit. Please don't over cook your bokchoy. The steam alone can just easily cook the bokchoy. Serve with rice if you want or just have the soup alone. This was a hit with B! And I must say, I did my mommy proud:-) What about you? What is your favorite comfort food?

Have a great Thanksgiving mes amis!

Bisous,
Contessa