"Beef Estofado with Quail Eggs"

Estofado is a dish stew with tomato sauce and spices. It can be beef, pork or chicken. Here in the Philippines, this dish is usually cooked with ox tongue, named "Lengua Estofado".

Good for 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 24 pcs quailed eggs
• water
• a heaping tbsp of rock salt
• 6 pcs ripe plantain bananas, cut into three pcs diagonally
• 4 tbps cooking oil
• 1 big head garlic
• 2 large (100 grams) red onion
• 2 large (100 grams) red ripe tomatoes
• 1 kilo beef with some bones attached, cut into 2"x 2" cubed
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups rice wash or water
• 1 pouch (115 grams) tomato sauce
• 3 pcs whole pickles
• 1 pc bay leaf
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, minced

Procedure:

In a small sauce pan, put quail eggs. Sprinkle the salt. Level with water. Bring to boil over high-fire. Keep it boiling for 10 seconds. Immediately remove from fire. Let the eggs sit in hot water. Set aside.

In a wok, over medium-high fire, put oil. Heat moderately. Fry the bananas by three batches. Drain in paper towels.

Back to the pan, add garlic. Saute until rich golden brown. Follow with onion and tomatoes. Saute until very soft. Mash.

Add beef and black pepper. Mix. Lid on. Cook for 5 minutes. Pour in the white wine. Let it cook for 5 minutes again, this time, without stirring.

Put the soy sauce. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the rice wash, tomato sauce and pickles. Stir. Cover tightly. Bring to boil. Then, decrease fire to very low. Simmer for 1-1/2 hour.

Meanwhile, Change the water of the quail eggs in the pan until it's not hot any more. Shell. Put the quail eggs together with the fried bananas.

Back to the simmering beef, add in the cheese and bay leaf. Mix immediately. Lid tightly on again. Continue simmering in a very low fire for another hour.

Increase fire to high, dump in the fried bananas and shelled quail eggs. Stir gently. Bring to boil. Immediately remove from fire.

Serve.