Beef Teriyaki

Instructions (for 4)
0.5kg Sirloin/Tenderloin cut thinly and in strips
Teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp Garlic powder
2 tbsp Ginger powder
Dash of Ground pepper
Sesame seeds (for garnish)
A griddle

Directions

1. Marinate beef in teriyaki sauce (just enough to cover beef, but don't let beef swim in the sauce), garlic powder, ginger powder, ground pepper for 1-2 hours
2. Heat griddle
3. When griddle is very hot, place the beef (it should sizzle a bit) until cooked. Place rest of marinade on the beef and lower heat. Wait for about 3-5 minutes and transfer to a plate.
4. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds, serve with hot rice.

Philly Cheese Steak

Super tasty and easy to make! :)

Ingredients (serves 4)
24ounces beef sirloin cut into very thin strips
1 large onion or 2-3 regular sized onions, chopped
1 small can button mushrooms, mushrooms sliced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 small bottle Cheezwhiz or Cheezwhiz with Pimiento
2 American cheese slices (the one for sandwiches) and/or porvolone
Some cream cheese
Some butter
Worcestire sauce (sp?)
Salt & Pepper
4 italian bread buns (with a crisp crust like cibatta)
Bacon strips cooked crisp (optional)
Red bell pepper cut in slices (optional)

**You don't have to use so much cheese actually. The important cheese ingredient is the CheezWhiz. :)

Directions

1. Toss beef sirloin with salt and pepper and a few dashes of worcestire sauce. Set aside.
2. Saute onions, garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper in olive oil.
3. Saute the sirloin when the onions and garlic start to soften
4. When sirloin, mushrooms, bell pepper are cooked, and the onions and garlic nicely caramelized, take it out from the pan.
5. Slice buns in half and spread some butter on them.
6. Put some of the sauteed ingredients on one half of the bread + some bacon, and liberally some cheezwhiz on it. On the other half of the bread, spread some cream cheese, then put some more cheezwhiz, porvolone, and half of the American cheese slice on it. Put "cheesy" bread on top of the sirloin, mushrooms, etc.
7. Heat in oven for 5-10 minutes. *If you are bringing it to work or wherever, wrap it in wax paper first before you heat it, so the cheese/s won't be too messy.
8. ENJOY! :)
   

Chili Beef Stir-fry

Got the recipe from an Asian Recipes cookbook, but I decided to make a few changes, which made the dish even better! Haha

Ingredients:
500g Beef steak cut into strips
Carrot cut into strips
Brocolli
Some snowpeas
2 Red bellpepper
1 onion chopped
1 small can baby corn
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 .5-2 tbsp chili flakes (or more)
Sesame Oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

Sauce (Mix in a bowl)
2 tbsp Soysauce
1/2 cup beef broth (or diluted beef buillion)
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cornstarch (optional - only if you want your sauce a little thicker)
1.5 inch grated ginger
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 tsp vetsin

Directions:

1. Mix beef with a pinch of salt & pepper + sesame seeds, put aside
2. Saute garlic and onion in sesame oil
3. When garlic and onion have begun to soften, stir-fry beef for about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside
4. Add a dash more sesame oil, stir fry vegetables for about 3 minutes.
5. Pour in sauce, chili flakes, cover wok and let simmer for a few minutes
6. Return beef to wok, mix with veggies, cover wok again, and let simmer for about 2 minutes
7. Transfer to serving plate and then sprinkle cilantro over it.
8. Serve with noodles or hot rice. :)

Kansi

Hi, guys! I know I haven't updated for a while; I've been quite busy. I hope this one can make it up to all of you though, it's a very worthy first post for 2010.

This is a dish I first tasted when I lived with my cousin in Virginia. Her husband is a Filipino from Bacolod and his relative, Carmel, who is also from Bacolod made some Kansi for us during one of our parties. Kansi is an Ilonggo recipe that is sort of like a cross between Bulalo (beef bone marrow and vegetables soup) and Sinigang (sour pork soup). Carmel was kind enough to share the ingredients with me, and tonight for dinner, I finally got around to try and put it together. Here's how:

Ingredients
1.Beef Bones (3-5lbs) and/or Beef Shank (3-5lbs)
2.Lemon grass (2 stalk)
3.onion (1 medium)
4.Fresh ginger (1/2 cup, sliced)
5. 1 long hot pepper
6.Atchuete powder(1 Tablespoon)
7.sinigang mix (2 Tablespoon or to taste)
8.Canned Green Jackfruit (1 can)
9.salt & pepper (to taste)
*I also added some garlic to the recipe and tomatoes, and used fresh green jackfruit (sliced) instead.

Directions
1. Saute garlic and onions
2. Add beef and ginger into the pot and pour just enough water to cover most of the meat
3. Leave it to boil for about an hour, thirty to two hours
4. Lower heat to simmer, add more water into the pot until meat is completely submerged
5. Mix in sinigang mix, salt, and pepper (I used about half of the pack of sinigang mix since I liked it more sour)
6. Mix in pepper (add more if you want it to be spicier)
7. Put in sliced green jackfruit
8. Leave to simmer until jackfruit is cooked and beef is very soft
9. When it's almost done, put in lemongrass (tie it into a knot) and atchuete for color
10. Simmer for about 10 minutes and serve with hot rice.

I'm not sure if my version was as good or as authentic tasting, since it's still up to the cook to blend proportions up to his/her liking, but I loved it when I ate it, so you might too!

Nilagang Baka (Boiled beef soup)

This nilagang baka recipe is a mix of my Tagalog and Cebuano heritage. I hope you like it!

Ingredients
1/2 kg Beef ribs or beef cut into 1 inch cubes. If they are attached to bone, better.
2 potatoes, quartered
Bokchoy
String beans
Carrots (optional)
3 inch long ginger cut into pieces
1 Knorr beef bouillon (sp?) cube
Black pepper
Salt
"Patis" (Fish sauce)
2 whole onions chopped
4-5 cloves garlic crushed

Directions

1. Boil meat, ginger, garlic, and onions together for about 45 minutes on medium high heat.
2. Lower heat a little and then crush and dissolve beef cube into the soup
3. Add dash of salt and pepper (salt less than pepper)
   
4. Add about 1/4 cup of Fish sauce (more if you like it a little saltier)
5. Add carrots and potatoes
6. Boil for 30-45 minutes
7. Add in bokchoy and stringbeans
8. Simmer for 15-20 minutes (more if you want your veggies soggy, less if you want them a little crisp)

Perfect for a cold day! Enjoy! :D

Kaldereta

Ingredients:
Beef cut into about 1 inch cubes
Water
Carrots (peeled and cut into about 1 inch thick pieces)
Potatoes (peeled and cut into about 2-3 inch thick pieces)
Red Bell Pepper cut into strips
Tomatoes, quartered
Peas (optional)
Salt and pepper
Lots of garlic chopped
One onion chopped
Italian seasoning (optional)
Mama Sita's Kaldereta mix

Directions

1. In a pot, saute garlic and onion on medium heat
2. Lay the beef cubes on the garlic and onion, turning them over until all sides have browned
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. Put the lid on the pot, lower heat, and leave for around 10 minutes
5. Put heat on medium again, add water* and boil
6. When it is boiling, add potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes.
7. When meat is tender, add Mama Sita's Kaldereta mix
8. Stir until mix has dissolved properly.
9. Lower heat, add a dash of Italian seasoning and put in the bell pepper and peas.
10. Simmer until sauce has become a little thick (for about 15-20 minutes)
11. You can also put some tobasco sauce or chili if you like it spicy.

Enjoy! :)

**For ratio of mix to water to meat, read the back of the Kaldereta mix packet

Steak!

I'm in the east coast right now, and for a little more American type dinner, I cooked steak and potatoes. Still served with rice though, of course, I am still Filipino afterall.

This is a very simple yet tasty recipe for a steak. You need the following
Ingredients:
1. Quality beef steak about half or so inch.
2. Worcestire sauce
3. Coarse ground black pepper
4. Salt
5. Garlic powder
6. Butter
7. Baby potatoes
8. McCormick all-purpose seasoning or your favorite blend of herbs (rosemary goes well with steak)
9. A few cloves of garlic
10. Zip lock bag big enough to fit your steak
11. Griddle (a frying pan that's used for grilling over the stove)

Directions:
1. Soften the meat by beating it lightly with a meat hammer or any hard object. You can put the meat in the ziplock before doing this, so the meat juice won't fly around.
2. Rub both sides of the meat with pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Don't coat the meat with it, just apply enough for the meat to absorb it all. About a teaspoon or so of the pepper > salt and > garlic powder put together for about 3 inches long steak.
3. Put the meat back in the zip lock and splash some Worcestire in there. Just put enough to coat the meat, don't drown the meat in the sauce.
4. Close the ziplock, while taking out the air from the bag. Wrap the plastic around the meat so the marinade will set in. Leave for about 20 minutes or more.
5. Heat the griddle, put on medium heat. Melt butter on it, then saute garlic, a few dashes of the McCormick seasoning/your favorite herbs, and potatoes (potatoes take a long time to cook, so if you're in a hurry, it's easier to microwave it first for 3-5 minutes and then saute in the butter). When potatoes are about to cook, put it on the less hot part of the griddle.
6. Put the heat on high and put meat on the griddle. Leave until sides brown and have grill marks.
7. Lower heat to medium and leave meat on, depending on how you like it. The longer you leave it on the more "done" it's gonna be, and leave it just for about 10-15 minutes and you get it rare.
8. Serve the meat and potatoes on a plate, and pour the butter and drippings from the pan on it.

Enjoy!!! :D

Korean Beef Stew

Ingredients:
beef short ribs or the beef part used in kaldereta, cut about 2 inches thick
2 carrots peeled and chopped into half moons
1 onion
garlic
2/3 soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1/2 cup water
about a tsp of ginger
about a tsp of sesame seeds
sesame oil
4 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper to season
Chili peppers

directions:
1. Boil beef until soft (about 15 minutes)
2. While waiting, mix the soy sauce, mirin, water, ginger, crushed garlic, a dash of sesame oil, sugar, chili pepper
3. Take the beef out of the boiling water
4. Sautee onions and carrots and then after a while, sear meat
5. Lower heat and add mixture
6. Simmer until meat is very tender (around 20 minutes)
7. Before it is done, add some sesame seeds and mix it in the pan.
6. Serve!

Singapore and Philly cheese corned beef

So I just got back from my Singapore trip last January 2. It was awesome over there! The shopping, the sights, the nightlife, and of course, the food. On the left I've made a collage of some of the dishes I tried over there. My favorite is the Cereal Prawns which is the biggest one in the collage. It's fried prawns and cereal that is very crispy and slightly sweet. It's so good that even the shells can be eaten! I tried the dish over at Hawkers near Esplanade and of all the food I have tried in my stay there, that is the most unforgettable one! In a good way! We ate it with pineapple rice, another tasty treat, grilled stingray, and Tom Yum soup. The last two had quite the spices, so I wouldn't recommend it for those who mind sweating a bit and getting their tongue a little burned. I would gladly come back though. :D I have yet to try cooking it myself, but watch out for that. I will try some day soon.

Some other goodies really worth mentioning are the buffet breakfast over at the Singapore Zoo which made me forget that we went there for the animals and not the food haha, the spicy Mcwings over at Mcdonalds which was so juicy and slightly spicy, the swedish meatballs at IKEA which surprisingly went great with the sweetness of the linden(sp?) berries, the Sing ice cream sandwich sold in the streets which was great, especially because it didn't melt as fast as I expected, and the "BBQ Shabu Shabu" in Pasar Oleh Oleh, Bintan, Indonesia. Well I included it with the Sing food already because Bintan is very Singaporean; the currency used to pay for stuff there is even SGD. Tiger Beer, the Singaporean counterpart of my country, Philippine's "San Miguel/RedHorse" is lighter than I thought it would be. It's good though.. 'swabe'. It reminds me a little of Cerveza Negra, but lighter. Bintang Beer of Indonesia is quite like Cerveza too, but it feels very watery and thin. San Miguel Strong Ice and Red Horse are still on top for me. :)

For more info on these dishes, check out my flickr account over at http://flickr.com/photos/kamums

Meanwhile, let me go on with the recipe I will share with you today. Wanting to make a philly cheese steak sandwich since before I left for Singapore, I decided to finally make one when I got back. Unfortunately, we still did not have any good tenderloin/sirloin or any beef cuts for that matter so I settled with what I found in the pantry --corned beef.

PHILLY CHEESE CORNED BEEF
Ingredients
1 small can purefoods corned beef
1 red onion
1-2 cloves garlic
cheeze whiz
2 slices bread
olive oil

1. Heat a little olive oil in pan
2. Sautee chopped onion and garlic
3. Put on high heat, and then add corned beef
4. Keep on pan until corned beef is dry and begins to crisp
5. On one slice of bread, put the corned beef. Make sure to include the little burnt pieces stuck to the pan --those are the crunchiest, yummiest corned beef parts
6. On the other slice, spread on a rich amount of cheeze whiz
7. Put slices together, grill in sandwich griller or toast. :)

Lazy Chili

I made this for dinner some time ago in March and had to make do with whatever we had in the pantry, hence the lack of beans and other traditional ingredients. I recommend this for lazy people who don't have the time to make the perfect blend of cumin and other spices and buy ingredients not sold in the local mini-grocery or market.

Lazy Chili
Ingredients:
Ground beef or pork
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Red pepper
Spicy red or green pepper
McCormick Chili con Carne seasoning dissolved in about 1 cup water
Cheese
Salt and pepper

First, saute onions, garlic in oil. Add the peppers next, then the mushrooms and then the tomatoes. When you can start to smell the flavor, put in the ground meat and cook it. Season it with salt and pepper while cooking. When it is cooked, add the dissolved McCorming Chili Con Carne seasoning. Mix it well and then cover the pot with a lid. Keep the fire going until it starts to thicken. Serve with cheese on top and Tortillas or plain white rice. Really also great as a dip for chips on movie nights with friends. :)