Menudo Mania

I love my mom's menudo. And for me, it's the best menudo ever. The meat is so tender, and the sauce is so tasty. That's the reason why I really made an effort to learn this dish.

She was in the States, when I first cooked this. I YMed her just to dictate the recipe to me. After i read the recipe, I found out that there was nothing so special about the ingredients. In fact, she did not include the other ingredients found in other Menudo, just the potatoes and carrot. It might be in the process of cooking? ...maybe?

Again, this is the shortcut version of the popular Filipino stew.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 kgs pork, menudo cut
4 tbsp Soy sauce
Juice from 3 pcs of small calamansi
3 cloves garlic
1 small sized onion
1 cup water
1 medium sized potato, cut into cubes
1 medium sized carrot, cut into cubes
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
 1/2 cup tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste.

 Procedure
1. Marinate meat in soy sauce and calamansi juice for about half an hour. I think this is the secret. The soymansi mixture will be absorbed by the meat.
2. Saute onion and garlic, add the marinated meat, set aside the soymansi mixture. Saute until the meat is half cooked. Add the bell pepper, water and the soysauce mixture. Cover and cook until the meat is tender.
3. Add the potatoes and carrots, simmer again until half cooked.
4. Add the tomato sauce, and mix until well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer again for 3 minutes.
5. Serve with steamed rice!