Beef Pares

 My daughter is perhaps the best judge of my cooking - always honest and 100% credible. My husband may be being polite when he praises my skills but the smile on my daughter's face cannot be faked (at least not at her age right now).

Tonight, she let out a squeal of delight after the first spoonful. The single word, "masarap!" was music to my ears. She had second servings...that ought to count for something, right?!

Here is the recipe for the Beef Pares I made for my family tonight:

• 1 kilo/ 2lbs Beef Fingers
• 5 cups water
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 ginger, minced
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 beef cube
• 2 pieces star anise (or substitute with half teaspoon of five-spice powder)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsps cooking oil
• scallions or green onions, chopped finely (for topping)

Procedure:

1. Pour 5 cups of water and let boil. Once boiling, put in the meat and boil until tender (we waited an hour and a half for our meat to be ready; a pressure cooker may be used if in a rush).

2. When meat is tender, allow to cool down and slice into cubes. Set aside beef stock to be used later.

3. Place oil in a heated pan and saute garlic, ginger and onion.

4. Put meat in the pan and saute for about 2 to 3 minutes.

5.  Next, add the soy sauce, 1 cup of beef stock, star anise or five-spice powder. Stir and bring to a boil.

6. Add the brown sugar.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and simmer for a few minutes til the sauce thickens.

8. Top with chopped scallions.

Here is my final product!

Try it. It`s super easy. Notice the ingredients are quite simple and I realized Pares has no "sahog" at all (well,except for the onion toppings). The flavor is all in the beef and  the sauce. 

Would love to hear from you. How did your Beef Pares turn out?

Ting