I’m up so late because I have too much excess energy today, plus I can’t wait for Obama’s inauguration. I’m not American [Dan is, so we have a healthy dose of jokes between us about our countries], but I still share the excitement, hope, and pride in this moment — as I’m sure a lot of my fellow Canadians do. Today marks a day that inspires the rest of the world, as we all witness and celebrate a momentous occasion.
Back to the food…”Bistek” is a Filipino bastardized word of a concoction for “Beef Steak”. I’m not kidding, even though it sounds so silly. It’s made from thin and flat beef strips that’s cooked in soy sauce, calamansi (or lemon) and onions. It is another favorite of mine. It conjures up such good memories.
I still remember the first time I cooked this after watching and bugging our household help on how to cook it. I’m serious, it was memorable. It was a magical moment because I know this oh so well, I can taste it right now.
As with all simple dishes from childhood, it holds a special place in my heart. *sniff, sniff*
As an option, you can also add fried potato slices or chunks, or other veggies. I cooked mung bean sprouts in the same pan so you get the flavor without needing more salt or pepper.
Every little addition of healthy counts, right?
E
If you want to give this dish a try, here’s the recipe with step-by-step photos. Let us know how it goes. Enjoy!
Bistek (Filipino Beef Steak)
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb tenderized beef cube steak
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp cup soy sauce
- ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water
- 1 yellow onion (or half if you’re skipping the optional sprouts)
- olive oil
- optional: 2 handfuls of bean sprouts
Preparation
- In medium heat, dry the onion slices in a tablespoon of oil until it becomes translucent but still holds it shape, and remove from the pan into a separate bowl.
- Cook the beef in the remaining oil. Drizzle lemon juice. Add pepper and kosher salt. About 5-7 minutes depending on the cut and thickness of the meat you have. [It cooks pretty fast if you have tenderized steak.]
- Add soy sauce. Allow to boil for 2 minutes.
- Pour the cornstarch dissolved in water and wait for it to simmer and thicken.
- Toss a third of the onions fried earlier and mix for another couple of minutes before taking off the heat.
- Plate in a dish with top with fried onions for garnish.
- Optional: In the same pan, add the remaining onion slices and saute with the bean sprouts for 5 minutes.
Note: Another variation are the fried potatoes cut like thick chips or in chunks, and use that to top the dish (or mix with it).
oh yum, parang sarap ng bistek mo :) happy new year Joy and D.
Salamat, Den! :) Iba pa rin pag hindi pinoy na soy sauce eh. I have to get silver swan. Hehe. Happy new year din sa’yo newlywed!
nakakatakam tignan ang bistek mo….i hope ganyan din ang texture pag nag luto ako ng bistek ko….umm..yummyy sarapp ng bistek…
Ah, happy inauguration then, D&J! I love bistek, sometimes we make it with pork too, with the onions very very limp :)
Manggys last blog post..Pineapple Lime Mascarpone Tart
Have you been watching? :) I’ve tried it before with pork, too. :) Meron din yang limp onions, but I didn’t make it too limp because Dan wants to be able to remove them (doesn’t like ‘em).
great blog! much love for representing Pinoy food. :)
a small note however: “bistek” is more likely to be derived from “bistec” which is the Spanish word for steak. (however, there’s nothing that says the Spanish word itself is not a bastardization of “beef steak”… ;)
Thank you. I love Filipino food and try to recreate the favorites from my childhood. :)
Hey, I didn’t know about that! I haven’t even heard of the word…haha. I always thought it was called “Bistek” because Filipinos pronounce “beef steak” as “bipisteyk”…thus, the shortcut. Hmm…now you’re making me research. :p Thanks for the info!
Looks simple and delicious-two of my favorite things!
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Elle, this definitely fits that description. :)
Will definitely have to try. My Filipino-American husband will love something traditional like this!
Aw, that’s awesome. :) This and adobo tend to be common favorites among Filipinos.
i love bistek. it’s one of my favorites! your presentation looks so delish!
saw your post on tastespotting.com =)
Ooh, another bistek fan. :) Thanks so much. Glad to see your here from TS!
yum! I’ve actually had this cooked by a Puerto Rican friend – she made it the same way w/o the cornstarch and some water to make a sauce. It was DELISH!!!
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The cornstarch is just to thicken the sauce, but you can just skip it. :) Other people like it a bit dry, too, so you can definitely skip the water and/or cornstarch. I’m so happy that there are lots of you who know and like this dish.
Mmm, all those onions…looks good to us!
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You onion people…haha. I don’t eat as much, but they do make this dish taste really good! :)
Your bistek looks great! And I love the simple yet delicious way you cooked the bean sprouts.
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Thanks!
Yum! I love it with lots of cooked onions… actually I’ll eat it backwards, just the onions with rice and a little bit of beef. Its the sauce thats so good…
Thanks! I eat the sauce the last, too! Haha. :)
Hi Joy! First time to comment, big fan of your blog.
I, too, learned this from watching my yaya/housekeeper while growing up. I don’t get to cook this often since my whitey of a husband doesn’t like sour taste with beef (boo). Your gorgeous pics are making me want to make this real soon. I like the addition of bean sprouts as well, a perfect side dish. :)
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Caroline, thanks for your comment. :D Aw…really? Ayaw nya ng maasim with beef? Dan thankfully liked this, well as long as it’s meat. Give the bean sprouts a try. I only liked the two flavors because I used to order them both (the bean sprouts to convince myself it’s a healthy meal, lol) in college for lunch then ended up liking them.
YUMMY!!! it reminds me of my MAMA’s cooking..one of my fav Flip dish!!great pics!!
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Yummy nga…you need to share your prawn recipe here soon! Haha. I’m craving that right now!
This looked so good when you posted it that I decided to try it for dinner. I’d normally turn my nose up at bean sprouts, but decided to do it with the bean sprouts since I’d just spent the last 4 days eating left over potato soup and am in a no-potatoes-for-a-long-time mood. Man, I gotta tell you, it was gooooood. Especially the bean sprouts! They took on the flavor of the sauce and onions wonderfully. I’ll definitely be making this again (though not *too* often since pan-fried steak isn’t especially cholesterol-friendly–though I was careful to get a lean cut of meat.) Thanks so much for sharing!
Brid, I’m so happy you tried it! The beef that I use is lean (I think I’ll add that there), or it won’t taste the same if it’s fatty. The sprouts is really nice to cook with meat because it takes on the flavor of the meat. Thanks again for dropping by and letting us know how yours turned out. It’s so nice to get feedback. :)
Hi Joy!
I’m in the kingdom of beef, all in my country is beef-related, but this one is super!! in presentation and for sure in flavor…with onions and others veggies must be really deliciousssssss!
Gera @ SweetsFoodss last blog post..Poll: How Important is Your Sweet Tooth?
Hi Gera — where are you from? Sounds like it’s steak country. Dan would love it there. :D It’s really good, I love it. :)
We are mostly vegans, but this looks great!
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That’s a huge compliment from mostly-vegans! :) Thanks!
Joy, I’m in Uruguay South America the beef-country, we’ve more cows than people :).. and you see beef bbqed everywhere, it’s a culinary tradition here ;)
All the best!
Gera
Gera @ SweetsFoodss last blog post..Poll: How Important is Your Sweet Tooth?
Gera, wow… more cows than people? That’s a lot of bbq to be had. Hehe. :)
Hey I just had this the other day :D
I recommend marinating the beef in the soy sauce and calamansi before you cook it :D Then use the marinade for the sauce. :)
This is really a favorite :)
tnx for this recipe at last i finally found the bistek recipe i grew up with…
Thanks for the recipe, I will try to cook this for our dinner tonight…
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All Pinoy loves Bistek i guess. I envy you coz of the blogher event.
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While in Indonesia, we call bistik. I found the same base on this recipe soy sauce and beef. Indonesian bistik uses nutmeg and sweet mustard mayo.
I’d like to try your bistek one day. Thanks for the recipe!
.-= Pepy @ Indonesia Eats´s last blog ..Indonesian Fried Fishcake – Fried Otak-Otak =-.
Hi Pepy! That’s so interesting! I also hear and read about other similar dishes (and words) in Malaysia. Do you have a recipe for your bistik? I would really love to try the nutmeg and sweet mustard mayo version. Thanks!
joy,
Thanks for posting on how to cook bistek… i love to eat bistek when i’m in Philippines yet have not try to cooked there even once because i don’t know how to cooked that viand because haven’t time to research on how to do it and maybe because there so many restaurants in our place who are excellent in cooking that viand, but right now im here at foreign land where in i will be the one to cooked my food have no choice but to research and and i found your column that posted here… thanks a lot… and God bless