Tapsilog a concoction of three breakfast food to fire up your day, “Tap” for tapa or cured beef, “si” for sinangag or fried rice and “log” for itlog or fried egg. It is always the star of every Tapsihan selling other silog dish.
This is a favorite among Filipinos. That’s why there are Tapsihan everywhere with each Tapsihan has there own secret recipe. We like to eat it for breakfast because it’s a one complete meal to start your day or in our case after a late hour gimik. Guilty?
I tried different tapsilog from different turo-turo or tapsihan with recipe from boiled beef covered smothered with homemade gravy to flavor it to tough and bubble gum-like tapa. What I’m so eager to try are tapas from Rodci’s, Vivian and Rufo’s.
My version of Tapsilog is sweet and savory with a hint of Asian touch. I boiled the meat until fork tender about an hour an a half to two ours over low heat and then I thicken the sauce before frying. What I love about this recipe is, the thick sauce covering the meat tends to caramelized when you fry it. To neutralize the sweet savory flavor of this dish and for a complete tapsilog experience, it is a must to dip the tapa in a garlic chili vinegar.
Ingredients
1/2 kilo Beef, thinly sliced cut into 2 inches by 1 inch
1 head Garlic, chopped
1 head Onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Whole Black Pepper
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/2 piece Star Anise
1 piece Beef Bouillon Cube
4 cups Water
Salt to taste
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
3 Tablespoons Water
Procedure
Clean beef. Place beef in a casserole and put enough water to cover the meat. Boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and wash meat with tap water. This will remove the scum or blood when we thoroughly cook the beef.
In a casserole, add beef, garlic, onion, ground and whole pepper, sugar, soy sauce, star anise, bouillon cube and water. Boil and simmer at low heat for 2 hours.
When the meat is fork tender, reduce the sauce to a cup and add salt to taste. Combine cornstarch and water and add to the sauce. This will thicken your sauce. Stir until every meat is covered with sauce. You can immediately fry the beef or in my case I fried it the following day for maximum flavor absorption, just like adobo.
You might be asking why thicken the sauce? By the thickening the sauce will help to keep the moisture of beef and prevent it from drying by forming this thick saucy coating on the meat. Also, when you fry this you will have this sweet savory caramelized beef exterior compared with just simply brown exterior of ordinary beef tapa.
Oh, don’t for get to pair it with fried rice and sunny side up egg plus a dipping sauce of garlic chili and vinegar.
