Sinabawang corned beef

A thin corned beef broth where the tin is fried first and the fat skimmed off the top.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, fish sauce.

Ingredients

• 340 g tinned corned beef
• 1.2 litres water
• 2 potatoes, in chunks
• 300 g cabbage, in wedges
• 1 onion, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 spring onions, sliced

Method

1. FRY THE TIN FIRST, THEN SKIM THE POT. This is the thin soupy one -- the carne norte guisado on this site is the dry sautéed version -- and a wet dish shows the fat in a way a dry one does not. Tinned corned beef is about a quarter fat, and tipped straight into water it makes a broth with an orange slick across the whole surface.
2. So: corned beef into a dry pan over a high heat, 6 minutes, broken up and left to catch, then the rendered fat poured off before anything else happens.
3. Browning it also gives the broth its only depth. This soup has no stock and no bones in it.
4. Oil in, then the garlic and onion, 4 minutes. Tomatoes, 4 minutes, pressed until they slump.
5. Water and fish sauce in. Simmer 10 minutes.
6. SKIM THE SURFACE at this point, with a shallow spoon, whatever has risen. There will still be some even after the frying.
7. Potatoes in, 12 minutes, until a knife goes in.
8. Cabbage in, 4 minutes. It should keep some body -- boiled soft it sheds water and the broth goes sweet and thin.
9. Pepper and spring onion. Taste before salting; there is a great deal in the tin already.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes