After spending 3 weeks in the Philippines 🇵🇭 last month, I had the opportunity to taste a wide variety of their local and national cuisine.
I’m a food lover from way back, and always open to trying something new. This definitely heightened my travelling experience as food is a significant part of the Filipino culture. As they often say “Food is Life”.
There were so many delicious dishes that I tried, and upon returning to Australia it didn’t take long before we were having withdrawal symptoms of their delicious cuisine (my wife especially) it’s her national cuisine after all.
I’ve always enjoyed cooking and learning new dishes, so I’ve taken one for the team and decided to cook a Filipino dish once a week. Today I want to share with you a simple but delicious recipe for Carne Frita.
Carne Frita is an Ilonggo dish, which is from the same Island my wife grew up on, and where we spent most of our time. This dish originated from the Spanish who colonised the Philippines many years ago, and different versions of this dish exist across Latin and South American countries.
It is essentially thin strips of fried beef steak, marinated in soy sauce, onions, garlic, and calamansi. It’s a delicious dish for meat lovers, and really simple to cook.
Ingredients
- 600g Beef Rump Steak
- Onions x 2
- Oil
- Water 1/2 cup
- Brown Sugar 1 tsp
Marinade:
- Calamansi or 1 large lemon alternatively
- Soy sauce 1/3 cup
- Minced Garlic 1 tsp
- Black Pepper
Method
Step 1
Using approximately 600g of Rump Beef Steak, cut it into thin long strips similar to above.
Step 2
In a large bowl add the marinade ingredients, and stir thoroughly. In Filipino cuisine Calamansi is most regularly used in this marinade, however it’s a bit harder to acquire here in Australia. Lemon is a good alternative which I have used here.
Step 3
Next add the diced beef strips to the large bowl, mixing it consistently through the marinade. Once mixed well, refrigerate overnight or for at least 8 hours in order to let the meat absorb the flavour.
Step 4
Heat some oil in a large frying pan at a high temperature. Add the beef strips once the pan is sizzling hot, searing the beef strips on each side.
A key tip here is to drain the excess marinade off the beef before frying it. This will allow the beef to sear better, as opposed to stewing it. Cooking several different batches can help with this too.
Once the beef is seared, remove from the frying pan and place aside for now.
Step 5
Grab a couple onions, I like to use red onions to add a bit more colour to the dish. Peel them, then slice into rings.
Next on low heat, add 1/2 cup of water and bring it to the simmer stirring in the brown bits on the frying pan.
Pour in the remaining marinade, add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, and stir continuously as it reduces and thickens.
Add the onions to the remaining sauce for approx 1 minute until sautéed.
Add the beef back to the pan mixing with the onions and marinade, cooking through on low heat. This only needs a couple minutes, you want to make sure you don’t over cook the beef.
The Moment of Truth
And there you have it a Filipino classic Carne Frita.
You can either serve it on top of rice, or have your rice on the side, whatever you prefer.
I love the flavour that the marinade gives the meat. It’s a simple, easy and quick meal to cook, and I highly recommend it.
Tastes bloody good, look forward to giving something slightly more difficult a nudge next week, as I try and broaden my cooking knowledge and abilities.
Hope you guys find this recipe useful, and let me know what you think ✌️
