[Filipino Recipes] Vegan Bistek Tagalog (aka Filipino Beef Steak)

Learn how to make a vegan version of bistek Tagalog, a Filipino dish comprised of vegan beef cooked in a tangy marinade with sliced onions. It’s hearty, packed with flavor and made with only a few simple ingredients.

Something that my mom and I have been doing to not only stay connected but to bring a sense of normalcy into our lives is having weekly cooking facetime chats. We plan out a recipe then make and enjoy it together on our call. Since I can’t be with her right now, this is the next best thing! We wanted to do something special for Mother’s Day this year and I thought what better to do than to veganize one of my mom’s favorite foods, Filipino Bistek.

My mom is from the Philippines and she, along with her sisters, make the best Filipino food in town! Since my mom and I are both now vegan, our recipe traditions have shifted a bit in the sense that we no longer eat animal products, but that doesn’t mean that we are no longer able to eat Filipino food! It has been a project of ours to veganize as many recipes as we can, and it has also been such a un project for the two of us to do together.

This recipe for today is a result of my mom and I working together to perfect it via facetime! It was one of the most interesting recipe creations we have put together since it was all done digitally but it was also so fun to do. We nailed this one and I can’t wait for you to try it out for yourself.

Speaking of family, shoutout to Samsung for sponsoring today’s post with their smart Family Hub refrigerator! If you’re looking for a new fridge, look no further. This one is bad ass and gives me so much more than I would have ever expected I needed from a fridge. It has the capability of creating shopping lists, keeping track of expiration dates, giving us a digital view of our refrigerator at all times, and most importantly the ability to store our produce and food optimally.

We have a whole blog post where we talk about the best ways to store produce here. If you want to get a full tour of our vegan fridge AND learn more about the unique features of this refrigerator, check out our previous fridge tour post

Vegan Bistek Tagalog (aka Filipino Beef Steak)

Author: Jasmine @ Sweet Simple Vegan
Prep Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield: 4 small servings
Diet: Vegan



Description


Learn how to make a vegan version of bistek Tagalog, a Filipino dish comprised of vegan beef cooked in a tangy marinade with sliced onions. It’s hearty, packed with flavor and made with only a few simple ingredients.

Ingredients

• 2 cups boiling hot water
• 1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon lemon juice (+ more as desired) *see notes
• 2 tablespoons orange juice (+ more as desired) *see notes
• 2 1/2 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
• 1 tablespoon vegan beef bouillon (or vegetable bouillon, see notes)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 oz. soy curls
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cooking oil of choice
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rings
• Cooked brown or white rice, to serve

Instructions

1. To a large bowl, add in the boiling hot water, lemon juice, orange juice, tamari, vegan beef bouillon, black pepper and garlic powder. Stir until uniform. Add in the soy curls and mix until well combined. Marinate for 1 hour, mixing every 20 minutes or so to ensure that the soy curls marinate evenly.
2. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the soy curls (not the marinade) to the hot pan and sauté for 2 minutes. Keep the marinade in the bowl that you used to marinate the soy curls.
3. Add in 1/3 of the marinade (about 1/2 cup) and continue cooking until the liquid has cooked off, being sure to stir the mixture regularly so that the marinade is evenly distributed.
4. Add in another 1/3 of marinade and cook that through. Add in the last bit of marinade and cook for about 1 minute, or just until it is warmed through. Transfer the soy curl mixture back into the bowl and set aside.
5. In the same pan, add in 1 teaspoon of cooking oil along with the sliced onions and an extra spritz of lemon juice. Cook until the onions begin to brown and soften, about 2-3 minutes.
6. Return the soy curl mixture along with any remaining marinade back into the pan and cook for a a minute or two more, or until the onions reach your desired consistency. Some people prefer this with crunchy onions but I like them cooked through (as pictured in the post).
7. Remove the pan from heat and serve warm with rice and an extra side of lemon to drizzle on top as desired.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Sweetsimplevegan.com. Thanks so much!