Masarap!: Bistek Tagalog Recipe

So one of the things I’m looking forward to on my placement is Filipino food. It’s going to be great sampling some authentic Filipino dishes (not there's anything wrong with my mum's Filipino cooking!)I’m going to use this blog to share a few Filipino recipes along the way, because it’s a cuisine that is not widely cooked or sampled in the UK. Today I’m sharing a really simple recipe that can be cooked in 10 minutes and is masarap (tasty)! 

Bistek Tagalog

Serves 4

Ingredients

-x4 beef steaks  cut into thin strips (rump, sirloin and fillet work best)*

-One onion cut into thickish rings

-Medium Soy Sauce

-Chopped or Minced Garlic

- Juice of 2 Lemons or Limes

-Brown sugar 1tsp

-Salt and Pepper ½ a flat tsp of each or season to your own personal preference

-Oil for frying

*For a meat free version of Bistek Tagalong you can use mushrooms and a firm block of tofu, both cut into strips

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients (minus oil) in a bowl, making sure the meat is evenly coated with sauce.

2. To maximise taste, cover bowl and leave to marinate. You can do this for a few hours or leave it to marinate the night before. Remember however that the acidity from the lemon/lime juice will cook the beef so don’t overcook the meat if you’ve left it marinating for a long time.

3. When you are ready to cook, separate the onions from the beef and sauce. Put a frying pan or wok onto a medium to high heat and add oil.

4. Once the pan has reached the optimum temperature (you can test this by dropping an onion ring in and if it makes a sizzling sound then it’s ready). Tip in onions and fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not overcook the onions before you have added the beef. They should retain some bite to them at the end of cooking.

5. Next add in the remainder of your mixture to the onion. Stirfry the ingredients for no longer than 3 to 4 minutes (this should leave the beef tender and juicy) or you can cook the beef to your own personal preference.

6. Remove from heat and plate up. You can serve this dish with noodles or veg but the customary practice is to serve it with white rice (sticky if possible as it soaks up all the yummy sauce) and sometimes a fried egg on top.

Enjoy!