Ropa Vieja Recipe, How to make Ropa Vieja?

Ropa vieja means old clothes and Ropa vieja recipes is one of the famous Mexican recipes. The dish got its name for this savory way of using up meet and vegetables left over from the preceding stew. There are of course other regional versions of this dish. Ropa vieja is usually eaten as a taco filling and in this case the tacos should be fried and served with the tomato sauce and lots of shredded cabbage with a dollop of cream and sprinkling of crumbled cheese. So, now we come to the answer to the question How to make Ropa Vieja. Prepare the following.

1. 2 table spoons lard or safflower oil
2. 4 tbsp finely chopped white onion
3. 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
4. 1 1/4 cups finely chopped tomatoes
5. 3 Chiles serranos, finely chopped
6. 11/4 cups shredded cooked beef from cocido o caldo de res michoacano.
   
7. 1/4 cup meat broth
8. 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, mexican if possible
9. sea salt
10. 1 heaped cup cooked vegetables in 1/4 inch cubes
11. 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro

Heat the lard in a frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Then fry without browning until translucent for about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and fresh chilies and cook fro 3 minutes more over fairly high heat. Add the meat and broth with oregano and salt to taste. Cook over medium heat, stirring and turning the mixture over from time to time for about 3 minutes. The mixture should be moist but not too juicy and last but not the least, add the vegetables and cilantro and continue cooking and stirring until the mixture is almost dry. So, there you have the Ropa Vieja recipe and how to make Ropa Vieja.