Christmas is all about family. In the Philippines, we take one step further and celebrate Christmas pretty much any way we can, any time. Christmas celebrations usually start when we’re in the “-ber” months – September, October, November, December, and drags on until pretty much January and February when the stores change their Christmas decorations to Valentine’s day.
As most Latin and Spanish countries, Christmas Eve is just as important as Christmas day in the Philippines. Families gather together on the 24th of December, prepare an absolutely scrumptious feast, stay up until midnight, open the presents and dig into the food.
Beef Mechado
Our family is an exemption. We’re not the big parties, big gift giving family that is typically Filipino. Rather, our Christmas dinners are usually a dish or two, rice, Coca-Cola (yes, always a mainstay in Filipino dinners), a Goldilocks cake and ice cream. Sometimes as a treat, my dad will buy roast chicken from Andoks or Baliwag, and mum will come home with kilos of fresh, ripe mangoes. We don’t usually give each other gifts, but again dad will usually take us to Divisoria, a wholesale marketplace in the Philippines full of bargains, and he would buy us Barbie dolls and plastic tea pots and cups.
For me, Christmas eve dinner or Noche Buena is all about simple, Filipino food made special by the people you share it with. May it be a fabulous, colourful fiesta ham, or a simple yet fresh plate of grilled fish served with rice cooked in banana leaves – Christmas in the Philippines is what you have and with who you have it with.
My favourite, most special dish from my mum’s repertoire of dishes is mechado. My sisters and I would request this from mum on every birthdays and special occasions, and we would tuck in with so much gusto my heart bursts with each memory. This is my take on Noche Buena, my mother’s Mechado – because this is what Christmas eve is all about.
Mother’s Mechado
Makes approximately 4-5 servings
1 kg gravy beef, cut into large chunks
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
3 tbsps soy sauce
2 tsps fish sauce
3 medium sized potatoes, peeled & chopped into large chunks
2 medium sized carrots, peeled & chopped into large chunks
2/3 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup tasty cheese
1 tbsp raw sugar
1 dried bay leaf
1 medium sized green capsicum
Salt & pepper to taste
1. In a large pan, heat oil and sauté garlic until brown but not burnt. Add onions and tomatoes, and sauté until everything has softened.
2. Add in fish sauce and the beef. Saute everything together and put on lid for a few minutes.
3. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper. Stir to combine, and put on lid.
4. Cook meat for approximately 2 to 2 ½ hours, depending on pan size, heat, and heat distribution. I like the meat really tender, almost shredded when cooked through. Ensure the pan doesn’t burn – add about ½ cup water every time the meat gets a bit dry. Don’t worry if you add too much water – it will evaporate really quickly during the 2 hour cooking time.
5. Once meat is almost tender, add the potatoes and carrots. Put on lid and cook for another 10 minutes until the vegetables have softened.
6. Add tomato sauce, tasty cheese, raw sugar and bay leaf. Adjust the taste by adding salt and/or pepper.
7. I prefer crunchy capsicums, so I put these last. Add capsicums once the root vegetables have softened and the taste adjusted, turn off heat, and put on lid. The steam will cook the capsicums but won’t make them soggy or soft.
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