An early trip to the market on a rainy Saturday morning was what I did for a plan to cook up something special for the Hubby. Bistek is what I had in mind after spying some lemons in our fruit tray, harvested from my sister's home garden. This dish is one I learned from my Mama, its a favorite during special occasions and earned a lot of praises for her cooking.
I bought sirloin beef and had the butcher slice it "tapa-style" for easier handling. Back in my college days while helping out Mama do this, the hardest part was slicing the beef thinly which needed really sharp knives and a lot of patience. Mama wanted her steak evenly cut and no shortcuts were allowed. Next came the tear jerking onions which had to be cut in rings only, once I made a mistake of slicing it to strips and a scolding followed. Lemons are what we use not calamansi. It imparts a great aroma and flavor to this dish that calamansi cannot render. Thus Mama only uses lemons which are abundant here in the highlands. The tartness of lemon coupled with the salty caramel flavor from the soy sauce blend to make this dish so flavorful it makes one have more than a cup of rice! :)
Ingredients:
1 kilo of sirloin beef (sliced thinly)
3 bulbs of medium sized white onions (you can add more)
juice of 10 small sized native lemons
soy sauce
vegetable oil for frying
Wash the beef and slice into serving size, place in a glass bowl. Pour into it the lemon juice and slowly add the soy sauce, adjust the flavor accordingly. With your hands, mix the marinade into the meat to evenly coat and add the onions too. Cover bowl and marinade for an hour. To fry, heat vegetable oil in a pan. Drain the beef pieces from the marinade leaving the onions. Sear the beef pieces and drain the oil, do this until all the beef is done. Then remove the oil from pan, put back beef into the pan and pour in the marinade. Cover and let simmer. At this point you can also adjust the taste by either adding soy sauce or lemon juice. Let simmer until liquid is almost sauce-like in consistency. Serve with red rice, Enjoy!
