Kaldereta, also spelled Caldereta is a hearty Fil­ipino dish orig­i­nat­ing out of Spain. The name Caldereta comes from the the span­ish “caldera”, mean­ing cook­ing pot. In most of Spain caldereta is made with lamb, beef, or goat. In the Balearic Islands and Minorca it is com­monly made with lob­sters. Caldereta is sim­i­lar to the cook­ing style of guisado (stewed) com­monly found in Mex­ico and Texas — think carne guisado with the Fil­ipino touches of soy sauce and a sweeter taste. This is one of my favourite main­stay dishes. We have it in some form sev­eral times a month. It fuses flavours of toma­toes, olives, pep­pers, and sherry or red wine. This dish can be cooked with a num­ber of meats includ­ing lamb, chicken, beef , or goat. My favourite prepa­ra­tion is with goat.

2 lbs. chicken (prefer­ably a mix­ture of chicken breasts and bone­less, skin­less, chicken thighs)
1/2 cup cook­ing sherry
2 cloves gar­lic, minced
black pep­per to taste
1/2 cup onions
1 cup sliced toma­toes
1/4 cup diced red bell pep­per
20 sliv­ers of red bell pep­per, sliced.
1/2 cup diced bell pep­per
1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
2 bay leaves (prefer­ably Turk­ish)
1 tsp paprika
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup chicken stock
kosher salt to taste
1/2 cup uncooked chicken liv­ers
1/2 cup green olives, pit­ted
2 oz. Edam cheese (can also use Gouda)
3 tbsp. olive oil for chicken + 2 tbsp. (kala­mata works very well)
2 Thai chilies (optional) if you want spicier.

Cut the chicken into pieces (not to small). Remove the excess fat.

Heat the olive oil in pan on medium, then braise each piece of chicken until light brown. This method will help keep the chicken from falling apart as it sim­mers. Remove each piece as it is browned. Then add 2 tbsp addi­tional olive oil to the pan. Cook the gar­lic and onion for 1 minute. Add the toma­toes, diced bell pep­pers, and chili pep­pers (if wanted) and cook for 3 minutes.

In order add the chicken and stir in, then bay leaves, paprika, tomato sauce, soy sauce. Cook for 3 more min­utes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to sim­mer. Cook on sim­mer low for 1.5 hours.

Bring mix­ture to low, add sherry, cheese, the 20 sliv­ers of red bell pep­per, sliced, salt and pep­per to taste. Cook for 10 min­utes. Cook liver in a sep­a­rate pan in a small amount of oil until done, then chop up and add to kalder­era. Add olives and cook for 2 minutes.

In small bowl, cut up thai chiles and add 1 tbsp of fish sauce. Sprin­kle this over kaldereta.  Serve with steamed jas­mine rice.

If you are new to Fil­ipino cook­ing also check­out my recipe for Adobo Chicken