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Hilachas a shredded beef and tomato-tomatillo sauce stew
Time: ~ 3hrs 20min
Serving Size: ~ 6-8 people
Recipe:
2 lbs beef flank steak or 2 lbs skirt steaks, cubed
5 cups water
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 cup tomatillo, chopped
2-3 guajillo chilies, warmed over a flame, deseeded and chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 lb potato, peeled and chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1⁄2 cup breadcrumbs
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Directions
Place the beef, water and a big pinch of salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the beef is very tender.
Remove the beef to a bowl, reserving the broth, and set aside to cool
When cool enough to handle, shred the beef with your fingers and set aside.
While the beef is simmering, place the onion, tomatoes, tomatillos and chiles in a food processor or blender and puree, adding a little water if necessary.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium flame. Add the onion-tomato puree and simmer until the puree is cooked down and darkens somewhat in color, about 10 minutes. Do not burn.
Add the shredded beef and about 3 cups of the broth to the onion-tomato puree and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the potatoes, onions and a little more broth or water if necessary. Simmer until the potatoes and carrots are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
Stir in the breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce.
Then stir in the chopped cilantro, adjust seasoning and serve hot with corn tortillas or rice.
*Variations
Use 1 or 2 shredded fresh corn tortillas to thicken the sauce instead of the breadcrumbs if you like. If the sauce has thickened enough while simmering, neither thickener may be necessary.
Add 2 teaspoon achiote seasoning to the onion-tomato puree for added flavor. Bricks of achiote seasoning can be found at many Latin markets.
The potatoes and carrots can be eliminated if you like.
Canned tomatoes and tomatillos work just fine in this recipe.
Two cups of chopped tomatoes can be used if you would like to eliminate the tomatillos.
If you can't find guajillo chiles, use anchos or pasillas. Or substitute with 1 tablespoon of paprika and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Story:
Food is a common occurrence in every culture found in many different cultures and families. Some food that reminds me of my roots in Guatemala is Hilachas, this food, which my Grandma or Mom make, is a food that gives me fond memories of my youth.
One time a couple of years ago when my Grandma and Mom came back from a trip to the store they began to take out the vegetables and food they bought and I asked “Hey what are you guys making?” and my grandma said “Vamos hacer hilachas para la cena” which meant “We are going to make hilachas for dinner”. I always knew that when they were going to make hilachas it had to be for dinner since it always took a long time to make. They would usually start to cook it at 2 or 3pm so that it would be done by 5 or 6pm.
The thing is that today they came home late from the store because of traffic and that the first store they went to did not have any tomatillos and they had to go to another store that is farther away. So my Mom told me “Alex come help us with the food” she then pulled out the onions, tomatoes, and the tomatillo and said “Cut these all up until you have filled this cup then put it in this bowl” as she pointed to the measuring cup and bowl on the counter across from her. So I walked over and began to chop the veggies, as I was doing this my Mom began to warm the guajillo chilies over the stove so that they are easier to deseed.
My Grandma had just finished seasoning chopping 2 lbs of beef into cubes when she put them in a large saucepan. I heard the sizzling slowly die out as she put the lid over the pan, she then set a timer for an hour and 30 minutes so that she would know when they would be done. Then my Grandma came and helped me put the chopped vegetables in the blender, which we then put in a pot with some oil to let it cook for about ten minutes but we had to be careful because it can burn easily.
At this time the beef had finished cooking and my Mom had separated the broth from the meat and put it to the side. Once the sauce had finished we put them together and added 3 cups of the broth to the mix. My Mom then told me to go help my grandma with the potatoes and carrots that she had just started to peel, so I went over and began to peel the potatoes as my Grandma peeled the carrots.
Once we had finished peeling the potatoes and carrots we chopped them up and put them in the pot with the rest of the food to continue to cook the rest of the food. My Mom also added some breadcrumbs to the food to thicken the sauce. My Grandma then added the cilantro and made sure the seasonings were right and that it tasted good and when we were done it was around 5:30pm, so we then ate the hilachas with some rice and tortillas and had a good rest of our night.
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