Much Creamier Corn Soup with a Twist

When we head home to the province, we would find stalls scattered by the road selling all sorts of vegetables and fruits. We would buy to bring back home because some of the items would be cheaper and definitely fresher from the ones sold in the grocery.
One of the things we would buy is Japanese corn which is harvested from Los Banos.
We would either boil it or mix it with our meals as soup, main dish, condiment or dessert.

I posted an entry before for corn soup. That is one of regular dishes we would prepare. My sister-in-law's family does their version differently. They mentioned that to make the soup more creamier, the corn is finely grated. The grated corn is then pounded or fed to a food processor to make it finer.

I did try their advice, and true enough the soup was thicker that just scraping the kernels from the cob with a knife. To have more texture to it, I added 1/4 cup whole kernels.

To experiment further, I saw a bunch of left over basil leaves that my brother used for his pasta dish. I didn't have any your pepper leaves or spinach, so I chopped a few leaves (about 2 tablespoons) and added to the soup. I didn't want to add the rest because of its strong herb taste and I thought that I would be best to just have only a hint of basil to it. And I have to admit that it was a good judgment call. Instead of overpowering, it complimented the corn.

I really suggest that you try using a few chopped leaves of basil for a different twist.

Beef Caldereta

Nanay Chit makes great caldereta. She asked me to bring home some to share it with my family. Everyone got hooked. Too bad that Nanay had to go to the US to visit her son and his family. So through trial and error, I stumbled to a recipe that is almost near to hers. I can't wait until she comes home this September.

Ingredients:
half a head of garlic, minced
3-4 whole onions, minced
4-6 tomatoes, chopped
2-3 bell pepper, chopped
1 kilo beef, sliced into 1x1.5 inch cubes
200 grams tomato sauce*
tabasco sauce
salt and pepper to taste
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and cubed
1/4 - 1/3 cup liver spread
1/4 cup cheese

Quickly boil beef and remove the scum from the water. Remove the beef from the stock and reserve the liquid.
Saute garlic and onions until the garlic is fragrant and the onions are transparent. Add in tomatoes and saute until it is tender. Stir in the bell pepper. Add the beef and stir well. add enough water to cook the meat until it is fork tender. Drop in potatoes and carrots. Pour in tomato sauce and Tabasco sauce based on personal preference. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add liver spread when the vegetables are almost cooked. Stir to make it blend well. Reduce the liquid and add in cheese to thicken the sauce. Serve hot.

Note:
*Tomato Sauce - I accidentally saw that I didn't have enough tomato sauce. I only had the 90 gram pack. So I used yomato ketchup.