Whenever I go to Manila and take a Cebu Pacific flight back to Bacolod City, passengers like me go through NAIA Terminal 3. I really like it because I get to pass by a small food stall called Rajah Maynila that sells beef pares rice toppings. They also sell other pasalubong products, but I only buy beef pares. I would be so happy eating it while others pass by me on their way to their flights. Since I won’t be traveling anytime soon, I searched the internet for a beef pares recipe that I can duplicate in my kitchen. I also asked for some cooking advice from my cousin who is a professional chef. Eventually, I made my own beef pares recipe using beef camto (also called flank steak). Here’s how it went.

• Related: Why We Travel for New Year’s Eve | Family Travel

Beef is a Special Treat

In our home, beef dishes are a rare treat. We usually buy lean pork and grind our own meat. Cholesterol and triglycerides are an issue in the family, so my mother-in-law prefers lean meat. Even chicken skin, if it were only up to her, will be discarded. But then Siobe Shane only eats chicken skin, so that’s why we included them in our chicken dishes.

But my hubby loves beef. He likes the taste and texture. If given the chance, he would rather have steak in restaurants. Beef and seafood are the top things on his food list. He hasn’t tried the beef pares at the airport though and I am not sure when we will ever get the chance.

Learning to Use the Pressure Cooker

Recently, my mother-in-law unearthed her 10-year-old pressure cooker that had never been used. It looked horrifying to me because it’s a big one for canning purposes. It looked like a robot to me and I felt “pressured” to use it, haha! I grew up with a small pressure cooker, which explains the “shock”.

So how do pressure cookers work? The cooker is tightly closed so the food is cooked not just with heat but also with the pressure building up in the sealed cooker.

After studying the new pressure cooker for some time, I got the hang of it, so I have been using this new pressure cooker a few times each week already. I cooked my Korean Beef Stew Recipe in it, too. Check it out. I also prepared homemade corned beef in it.

I now prefer using the pressure cooker because I am sure to get tender meats without having to cook for hours on the stove. It takes a lot of time as well as gas (LPG is now very expensive). Also, I don’t like slow cooking in charcoal because we don’t have a lot of space here in the city. So the pressure cooker is my best bet.

Beef Pares Recipe

Enjoy this Tagalog dish wherever you are. The Beef Pares Recipe is actually easy to cook and requires just a few ingredients. Truth be told, you only need soy sauce, salt, and brown sugar mostly for the seasoning. But I preferred to enhance mine with flavorings, hence the many seasonings. But of course, if you don’t have them, just use your plain old soy sauce and brown sugar.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 1 head garlic, minced
• 1 Thumb-sized ginger, sliced
• 1 kg. Beef camto, sliced
• 1 beef cube
• 3 cups water
• 1 pc. Laurel leaf
• Salt and pepper
• Brown sugar + honey or syrup
• 3 Tbsps. Soy sauce
• 2 Tbsps. Fish sauce
• 2 Tbsps. Teriyaki Sauce
• Knorr Seasoning
• 2 Tbsps. Cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
• Green onions, sliced (for garnish)
• Fried garlic (for garnish)

Procedure:

In the pressure cooker, heat oil and saute the garlic for about a minute. Stir in the ginger, beef, and beef cube. Mix and sear on all sides.

Pour in the water and add the laurel leaf. Season and wait for it to boil. Taste and adjust seasonings.

If the taste is fine with you, cover the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 20 minutes. For safety, wait until all the pressure is released before opening the cooker.

Remove some of the broth to serve as soup. Leave some to make your beef pares saucy – it would be great to mix with rice.

You may want to transfer the beef into a pan or just finish cooking in the cooker. Heat the cooker again. Adjust the seasonings of the beef. To thicken the sauce, stir in the cornstarch when the beef has started slow boiling.

Serve hot with steamed rice and the beef soup, topped with green onions and fried garlic.

• Related: How to Make Homemade Crispy Fried Garlic

Enjoy this beef dish with the people dearest to your heart.

Other homecooking recipes

Meanwhile, here are my other recipes that you can try at home. Just click on any link below:

• Homemade Japchae Recipe for Korean Food Cravings
• Sardine Java Rice: A Filipino Family Meal Below P50
• Homemade Gyoza Recipe (Japanese Pot Stickers)
• Sardine Spaghetti Aglio Olio Recipe: 50-Peso Dish During Family Quarantine
• Spicy Sardine Frittata: 50-peso-Dish for a Family of 5 from Covid-19 Relief Packs
• Seafood Rice Recipe: A Complete Meal
• Health Benefits of Oyster Mushrooms + Recipe
• Osso Buco Recipe with Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil
• Cha Misua | Chinese Birthday Misua Recipe
• Cooking with Crab Fat Paste (Aligue)