Bistek (thin sliced beef steak)

I finally got my Coq Au Riesling marinating. That will be fore tomorrow though. Tonight, I only had time to make bistek for husband's lunch. I don't make it often, mostly because I think my mom does it way better than I do. I bought a bottle of soy sauce with kalamansi (a type of citrus) mixed in it already. I wish I only used half of the amount I did and used mostly regular soy sauce. 

Now I have my rules with soy sauce. I do buy the kikkoman, or lately, I've been getting the Tamari brand. I only use those for my other Asian cuisines. For Filipino cooking, I stick to the the Datu Puti or Silver Swan brands. They're easy to find, I've seen them in commissaries and even regular grocery stores. It's essential to Filipino food, the soy sauce just tastes a lot different than the wider brands. 

This is a dish best served with rice. The soy makes it particularly very salty, but then you'll only need bits of meat to make the rice super delicious. I used thinly sliced chuck beef. I bought it pre-sliced, but it's not hard to slice it thin either on your own. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup soy sauce (datu puti or silver swan brand)

juice of half a lemon

zest of half a lemon

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp pepper

2 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 large red onion, sliced in half, then sliced thinly

1 tbsp basil, chopped

1/2 lb to 1 lb chuck steak, sliced thinly

Combine all ingredients, except for the onion and basil, in a container. I used a ziploc bag. Marinate the meat in the marinade for 4 hours or overnight. Once ready to cook, put about 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a pan. Drain the marinade from the meat, reserving the liquid. On medium high heat, toss the meat and half of the onions in the pan.

Saute the meat and onions. When the meat is getting browner and the onions are tender, pour half of the marinade in. Let the liquid reduce to half, then place the rest of the marinade. Let it reduce almost halt the original amount again. Tadah! Bistek is done. Place it in your ideal serving dish.

I have a basil plant I planted from a bunch I bought at a farmer's market. It's now a happy plant in my kitchen. I added some of it. It's not a traditional Filipino cuisine ingredient but the soy sauce color drives me crazy. It's so bland and brown. Plus, I like adding herbs to everything. They do make food fresher, plus, my basil needed a little trimming.

I finely chopped the basil and I sliced the rest of that onion paper thin.



Top the bistek with the basil and sliced onions.

Serve it with rice. Please serve it with rice! It's not the same without it.

Now this is a bit of a salty dish. A little bit goes a long way, but MMM, white rice is very happy to know bistek as a friend. It's a friendship you don't want to miss out on.