Partially freezing and slicing on a bias allows you to cut your steak thin.
This Filipino dish is great for get-togethers with friends or family; it serves a crowd and it is full of bold flavors. This Filipino Steak has it’s heritage in Spanish marinaded steak but uses local flavors such as soy and citrus. In the Phillipines they use calamansi for the citrus, but here we can use lime juice. I’m partial to Indonesian soy (kecap manis) so I added the brown sugar, the 5-spice and ginger. Sirloin is the traditional cut, but I used a flat iron steak that was both delicious and tender.
2-3# Beef Steak (sirloin, flank, skirt, flat iron, or even chuck steak)
¾ cup dark soy sauce
Juice of 3 limes
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp Oriental 5 spice
1 tsp ground ginger
Oil for browning
1 ½ cups beef stock
2 Tbsp water + 2 Tbsp corn starch and make a slurry
2 medium sized onions, sliced thick
Instructions
Slice the beef thinly against the grain. Partially freezing the meat will make it easier to slice thin. You can do a very flat bevel cut to get very thin but nicely sized pieces of beef.
In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, brown sugar, black pepper, Oriental 5 spice and ginger. Add the steak and mix through. Carefully place the onion slices on top to absorb some marinade, but keep them together
Allow to marinate in the fridge for 1-12 hours.
Remove the marinade; carefully remove the onion slices from the top and set on a plate. Remove the meat and put in a stainer and place the strainer over the marinade bowl to catch all of the marinade to make the sauce.
Heat a skillet over med high heat and add 1-2 Tbsp of high heat oil (I like peanut).
Carefully place the onion slices in the skillet and allow them to brown on one side for 2-3 minutes. Remove to the plate.
Make sure the meat is thoroughly drained of marinade before trying to brown it.
Cover the bottom of the skillet with meat slices and allow to sear for ~30 seconds per side. Remove to another plate and cook the rest in batches, adding oil as needed.
Reduce the heat and add the marinade and beef stock to the skillet, bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes.
Add the corn starch slurry and stir until thickened.
Nestle the meat and half of the onions back into the sauce and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender.
Add the remaining onions (seared side up) over the top of the beef and allow them to heat through.
Serve over white rice. A broccoli or cabbage salad are delicious sides.
