Menudo

Menudo is a celebratory dish.  Feast, birthdays, graduations, and weddings would alway have menudo at the table.  Although this dish was brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards, it is of Mexican origin.  It is a traditional Mexican dish made of beef with clear broth or with a red chili base (wikipedia).  It is said that it is prepared by the entire family where everyone has his/her own part to do.  It is interesting to note that the cooking menudo itself is a way of socializing and uniting the whole clan or family in the Mexican culture.  I can say that it's the same thing for the Filipinos and  I hope that most of us are still doing this.

Ingredients
3/4 k pork cubes
1/3 k pork liver, cubed
1 c red capcicum, cubed
3 medium carrots, cubed
2 big potatoes, cubed
1 tin chickpeas (garbanzos)
8 pieces hotdogs, sliced diagonally
1 c tomato sauce (pinoy style)
1 tin reno liver spread (big one)
4 tomatoes, diced
1 medium onions, diced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
10 pcs calamansi
1/3 c soy sauce

Procedure
Marinate pork and liver with soy sauce and calamansi juice.
Sautee onions, garlic, and tomatoes.
Put in pork and liver.
Add in hotdogs.
Add in the carrots and potatoes.  
Pour 1/2 c water and the marinade and boil.
When the meat is tender, add in the liver spread and chickpeas.
Pour in the tomato sauce and simmer.

A comment or two will be appreciated...