Filipino Picadillo

It took a bit of research to even figure out what it was that my Mr. Shy's mom had made for me awhile back. So I made this "Filipino Picadillo" for lunch today and it came out really good, just like Mr. Shy's mom had made me basically. I did do a few things different then this recipe I found online just so I could get it the way I had imagined it being and yea...perfect'o ;DMy Changes to the Recipe

Instead of the pasta sauce I had opted for a chopped tomato instead. Also once you add the tomatoes I also added in a small box of raisins which I had soaking in some warm water prior to adding (I soak them because the raisins can be a bit too sweet and overpowering if not washed before hand) you can also choose to add the raisins to your rice instead which Mr. Shy's mom had actually done.I used a can of white potatoes because that's what I had in my house but Mr. Shys mom used red potatoes which is nice if you want to add some color to your food but it taste about the same in my opinion. Now once you add your potatoes it says to cook for 7 minutes, well in my opinion 7 minutes isn't long enough to cook potatoes and also I didn't want my picadillo to be on the runny-side because of the 2 cups of water added (also Mr. Shys mom's recipe wasn't runny). So instead I turned the heat on high, put a covered lid on it and let it cook 20-25 minutes stirring occasionally.

As a side note I would recommend letting your meat fry up long enough to were their isn't any heavy sign of beef grease showing in your pan prior to you adding your water or you might get a bit too greasy of a flavor in your end result (hope this helps with that). I think its an even better idea to fry up your meat, put it in a strainer, rinse it with hot water and then place it back into your frying pan (this meal get pretty greasy and can kill some of the other flavors).

You can also choose to use a red onion if you'd like more color (I believe Mr. Shy's mom did), I don't think this would affect the taste much either although some onions do tend to be sweeter or stronger then others.

I believe this is enough picadillo that you'll need to make 2 cups of rice to go with it because my one cup of rice didn't seem near enough. I also used what rice I had in my pantry :P This recipe also states "salt" several times and I believe that's referring to table salt aside from the 1tbsp of sea salt it mentions.

For more info on Picadillo, check out this link.