Mechado
This is another one of those soups that I stumbled across while looking up different international soups. It's a Filipino beef & pepper stew with potatoes and carrots, flavored with soy sauce and vinegar. I added some long beans because I had them from my garden.
The key to making a soup like this starts with two fundamental steps. The first, is marinating the beef. I used a mixture of soy sauce, spiced cane vinegar, tomato paste, and black garlic that I blended with coconut oil. Once again, I've been playing with black garlic, so I've been putting it into everything I make, as it imparts a nice tangy flavor. If you don't have black garlic, that's fine, just use minced garlic. I then marinated the cubed beef overnight.
The second important step is searing the beef in small batches to get the browning you are looking for. Even though you are stewing the beef after it's been braised, you develop a deeper flavor from your marinade when you sear it in small batches and get a crust.
After you sear the beef, you start the aromatics, your onions and garlic, in the same pot to cook them down. Instead of directly de-glazing your pan, you are using your vegetables to pull the crust off the bottom of the pan, thus adding more flavor to them.
I started with the onions, garlic, and hot peppers, then I added a touch of a harissa paste to the base as well. Though not traditionally within the same flavor profile, it gives your base a robust starting point. From there I added my seared beef, sliced peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots. Once the ingredients have cooked for a bit, helping blend the flavors together, I then added the broth and other seasonings and stewed it until it was properly thickened.
As I said I finished this soup with some long beans from my garden as well as chives, and served it with rice.
As with all my soups, feel free to adjust, make it your own, etc, etc. I will say, that the end product of this, was a rich and tender beef stew, that was pepper forward and had an underlying heat that didn't overwhelm, but was present in every bite.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
Marinade
beef, chuck roll (or similar), cubed 3 1/2 lbs
dark soy sauce 1/2 cup
cane sugar 2 T
hot peppers*, minced 3 ea
garlic pepper blend** 1 T
tomato paste 1 T
spiced cane vinegar*** 1/4 cup
mirin 2 T
coconut oil 2 T
*I used Thai chili peppers for this, but change it up to your preference
** This is a spice blend I made from finely ground black garlic and black pepper. Substitute with a combination of ground black pepper, and granulated garlic and the same amount and it will work well
*** At most Asian markets in the Filipino section there is a cane vinegar that is infused with hot peppers. It is amazing, and helps ground the food your cooking into this cuisine.
Mix all the ingredients together and thoroughly coat the beef. Refrigerate overnight.
Soup
marinated beef 3 1/2 lbs
sweet peppers, sliced 2 lbs
hot peppers, minced 2 ea (to taste)
potatoes, Idaho, cubed 5 ea
long beans. blanched, chopped 1 lb (+/- to your taste)
chicken stock 2 qts
water 2 qts
onions, chopped 3 ea
carrots, peeled, oblique cut 6 ea
tomatoes, diced 24 oz
bay leaves 3 ea
garlic cloves, sliced 4 ea
garlic pepper blend** 1 T
tomato paste 2 T
harissa paste 1 T
salt and pepper to taste
soy sauce 3 T
spiced vinegar 1 T
coconut oil 3 T
Garnish
rice, chives
Method of Procedure
Using an enameled cast iron dutch oven (feel free to swap vessels but that's my go to for soups) heat on medium high.
Once hot, in small batches, add some coconut oil, sear your marinated beef until you get a decent crust. Work through the beef and reserve.
Add your onions, garlic, bay leaves, and minced hot peppers and cook while stirring.
Next add your tomato paste and your harissa paste and cook while stirring.
Once the onions have cooked down a bit add your beef, carrots, and diced tomatoes. Cook while stirring to blend the flavor.
Add your sliced sweet peppers and potatoes then stir to blend.
Add your remaining ingredients, barring the long beans, and bring to a simmer.
Cook down, for around 2-3 hours depending on how high a heat, until you get to your thickened desired texture.
Season to taste.
To serve, heat, add long beans, serve over rice, garnish with chives.
