Tapsilog is one of my favorite breakfast meal options during big days. These are days wherein I need to complete several tasks. Having this meal gives me the needed energy to perform work and it keeps me full longer. I also enjoy starting my day with a delicious breakfast.
What is Tapsilog?
The word Tapsilog is an acronym that stands for Tapa Sinangag at Itlog. These are the three components of the meal. Tapa refers to beef tapa. This are fried marinated beef slices.
Sinangag, on the other hand, is a word used to refer to garlic fried rice. The last three letters of the word tapsilog is derived from the filipino translation for egg, which is itlog. A piece of egg is fried and forms part of the meal.
How to Cook Tapsilog
Since Tapsilog is composed of three components, each has to be prepared and cooked individually.
The beef needs to be marinated in a mixture of crushed garlic, pineapple juice, Knorr Liquid Seasoning, sugar, and pepper. The marinade provides flavor to the meat when absorbed completely. It is best to marinate overnight or longer for best results.
I am using pineapple juice for this recipe because it provides the right amount of sourness to the beef. This is essential for a successful beef tapa, in my opinion. In addition, pineapple juice is a known meat tenderizer. This means that it tenderizes the meat while providing flavors into it.
Cooking beef tapa involves two methods for this recipe. The first method is boiling. Beef is boiled in its marinade with the addition of water in order to make it tender. Cooking oil is added in the process. Once the liquid completely evaporates, the beef gets fried in the remaining oil. Frying using the remaining oil completes the beef tapa.
Making garlic fried rice or sinangag is easier than you think. It involves four ingredients, leftover rice, salt, garlic, and cooking oil. It is ideal to use leftover rice because it is less likely to stick with each other. The more garlic, the better, as far as I am concerned.
Start cooking the rice by first browning the garlic. You can put oil and garlic in the pan at the same time and cook until the garlic turns light brown. Add half of the rice and then stir fry. This will give you enough room to blend the garlic and rice. Add remaining rice afterwards and continue to stir fry until well blended. Season with salt.
The easiest to cook among the three components is the egg. Fry the eggs based on your preference. You may also want to check other ways in cooking eggs.
Assemble your Tapsilog by combining all three components together in a large plate. Serve with spicy vinegar as dipping sauce. Banana ketchup is also nice to have with the egg.
Try this Tapsilog recipe. Let me know what you think.
Tapsilog
Ingredients
- 1 lb. beef sirloin sliced thinly
- 3 pieces eggs
- 6 tablespoons cooking oil
Tapa marinade
- 3 tablespoons Knorr Liquid Seasoning
- 6 cloves crushed garlic
- ¾ cups pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
Sinangag
- 5 cups leftover rice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
Instructions
- Prepare the tapa by placing the beef in a large bowl. Combine with all the tapa marinade ingredients. Mix well and cover the bowl. Place inside the fridge and marinate overnight.
- Cook the garlic fried rice (sinangag na kanin) by heating 3 tablespoons cooking oil in a pan. Add crushed garlic. Cook until garlic turns light brown. Add the leftover rice. Stir-fry for 3 minutes.
- Season with salt. Continue to stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Start to cook the tapa. Heat a pan and pour the marinated beef into it, including the marinade. Add ¾ cups water. Let the mixture boil. Cover the pan and continue to cook until the liquid reduces to half. Add 3 tablespoons cooking oil into the mixture. Continue to cook until the liquid completely evaporates. Fry the beef tapa in remaining oil until medium brown. Set aside.
- Fry the egg by pouring 1 tablespoon oil on a pan. Crack a piece of egg and sprinkle enough salt on top. Cook for 30 seconds. Pour 2 tablespoons water on the side of the pan. Cover and let the water boil. Continue to cook until the egg yolks gets completely cooked by the steam.
- Arrange the beef tapa, sinangag, and fried egg on a large plate to form Tapsilog. Serve with vinegar as dipping sauce for tapa.
Ivan says
Hello Vanjo:
I made this for the first time this morning, after I read the recipe and watched the video. I have to tell you, it was perfect. I didn’t have pineapple juice for the marinade so I used lemon juice. I had enough marinade so I didn’t need to add water. I lowered the heat so as not to boil it down too fast. That worked beautifully. The marinade cooked down till it was coating the meat.
The sinangag came out perfect too. I can see I will be eating that a lot. I have a lot of chicharon bits in the freezer that I saved from rendering lard, and I want to add them to the sinangag next time. Have you done this?
I love your website and read it for inspiration daily. There are plenty of Filipino grocery stores near where I am, and I raise my own beef and pork, so I should be able to get most everything I need. Thanks again.