Ground Beef Menudo - Filipino Sloppy Joe



This is my delicious ground beef version of a popular Filipino sandwich snack called menudo which is usually cooked with ground pork in the Philippines.   I consider this menudo the Filipino counterpart of the Sloppy Joe.  I have previously posted Slow Cooker Pork Menudo in this blog which is more a stew served during the main meals of the day either lunch or dinner.  The ground meat version is more "palaman" or filling for a sandwich.  The difference between the two is the size of the meat which is ground in this sandwich version and the way the vegetables like potatoes are cut in smaller sizes to be a a more convenient filling for a sandwich.

Filipinos love to eat savory snacks in between meals.  Some of the favorite items in the carinderia (little rustic eating places usually in front of a person's house with just a bench or two) are pancit or noodles of every kind, lugao or rice porridge similar to the Chinese kongee and sandwiches filled with cheese pimiento or menudo.

Picture of a typical carinderia from this website. 

I remember buying pork menudo sandwich at Aling Aya's carinderia beside my grandmother's place in Malabon when I was growing up.  We used to live at my grandmother's place in Cuatro Cantos in Malabon till I was 10 years old.  Her daughter-in-law Tina would make it for me while Aling Aya asked me questions about how my Lola Fina (my grandmother Rufina or Fina for short on my father side) and my parents especially my mother who she referred to as Inso Naty were doing.  I find this perplexing since  she visited my grandmother everyday.  They were BFFs as we call them nowadays.  I remember Aling Aya in her duster and long, newly shampooed hair over her shoulder listening to my Lola Fina who always had an opinion or two about the day's events and life in general. 

This past week, for some reason I had a craving for this savory snack but I had only ground beef.  So I recalled how Aling Aya's ground pork menudo was and adapted it using ground beef instead.  Here is the recipe of a very delicious and comforting sandwich.  If you get tired of leftover turkey after Thanksgiving, do not order pizza like most people do.  Try this.  So good and so easy to make.

Groud Beef Menudo-Filipino Sloppy Joe

• 1 lb ground beef (or pork)
• 1 large piece of roasted pepper from a jar , cut to small 1/8 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1 potato cut to small 1/8 inch pieces (cook in microwave with some water covering it for 2 minutes or till soft)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup catsup
• 1 tbsp minced dry onions
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Saute the ground beef or pork in a pan till cooked.  Add to it the other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes or so at low till the taste blends.  The consistency should be like sloppy joes namely thick enough to spread on a bun or piece of bread.  Serve on a bun and enjoy with your favorite Coke or Pepsi or Sarsi (Filipino cola) drink over ice.  Ang sarap ng buhay.  Life is satisfying.