Chile Colorado aka Carne Roja aka Mexican Vindaloo

I love carne roja. On the rare occasion that I find it in a restaurant I usually can't eat it because it is made with pork. I've tried to make it a couple times, but I never get it quite right. I made it for guests yesterday. I started it very early so that I could get it right. I prepared it thinking of it as Mexican vindaloo, and it turned out really well. I used some tomato puree that I made from tomatoes from the farm and cayenne peppers from my minigarden.

Carne Roja

Potatoes

Oil

1 or 2 onions

Beef

Chile powder

Garlic powder

Comino

Bay leaves

Tomato sauce

Water

1. Wash, chop and boil potatoes until tender. I hate it when the potatoes aren't fully cooked, so I cooked them first.

2. Shred onion. I used one, but could have used two for the amount that I made.

3. Cut beef into small pieces.

4. Saute onion in oil until softened.

5. Add beef and cook until browned.

6. Stir in spices and cook for 1-2 minutes.

7. Add tomato sauce and water. Stir and bring to a boil. This is where I added in the tomato puree and slit open cayenne peppers.

8. Simmer stew, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours. Add potatoes for last half hour of cooking.

I served this with tortillas, guac and Spanish quinoa. Cooking it for two hours ensured that the meat was tender, and pre-cooking the potatoes ensured that they were nice and soft. The guys loved it, so there are barely any leftovers.