Soy sauce, onions, salt, pepper, calamansi– these are a couple of ingredients you may commonly find in most classic Filipino viands. And the appeal definitely resonates well with us as these truly go well with a great deal of dishes, blending perfectly with savory flavors. It makes sense then for these much-favored seasonings and spices to come together in one recipe. Filipino beef steak, more fondly known as Bistek, utilizes this beautiful combination. But today, we’ll be exploring Pork Steak, which is a twist on that original recipe in using succulent pork chops as its meat.
If you’ve already gotten a taste of Bistek, you would probably be aware of its unmistakably delicious saltiness and mild tang. But these flavors also go incredibly well with the pork chop cut, which are more affordable. Moreover, these are milder in taste than beef, which gives our tasty seasonings more of a chance to shine.
And another advantage to trying to make your own Pork Steak? The steps are quick and simple, and can serve as a fantastic starter dish for a beginner cook. If you’re only starting to learn how to cook, don’t let yourself get intimidated. Grab an apron so we can start making this meaty, juicy dish!
Follow these steps to make some mouthwatering, succulent Pork Steak:
This should take only about an hour to cook, and so you’ll have plenty of time to chow down on this delicious dish after you’ve made it. Just make sure you prepare in advance to marinade the delicious pork chops! Start out by getting a large bowl or a resealable bag. Place 4 pork chops, 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 2 pieces of juiced lime or calamansi inside. To let that flavor seep into the meat perfectly, marinate this for a minimum of 1 hour.
Now pour ½ cup of cooking oil into a pan, and let this heat accordingly. Afterwards, place the marinated pork chops inside, and pan-fry them in medium heat. Make sure to switch sides after 3 minutes to cook both parts evenly and nicely. Pan-fry the other side for 3 minutes as well.
Then take out all of your excess oil. Instead, put what’s left of your marinade in the pan, as well as 1 ½ cups of water. Wait for this to boil. Then let it simmer for 45 minutes or until your pork chops are perfectly soft and tender. If you notice the water running out, feel free to pour more into the pan.
Add some flavor and some of the last ingredients to make this dish:
Let’s season this dish with ½ teaspoon of granulated white sugar, and some salt and pepper to your taste. After you add this to the mix, stir everything together well. For that final touch of flavor and texture, we’ll be adding 2 onions that we’ve sliced. Let this cook for 3 more minutes, and then you would be ready to serve this amazingly savory batch of Pork Steak! Simply turn your heat off, and put everything from the pan onto your serving plate.
Now you’re prepped with a gorgeous set of tasty pork chops for 4! But if you’ve looked through these steps and found out that you might be missing an ingredient or two, I’ve got you covered!
Here are a few substitutes you can use for your Pork Steak:
In the place of pork chop:
While the ingredient ‘pork’ proves its value to the dish in being part of its name, we can still find ways to do without it. After all, we can still get our protein in other ingredients, and cut down on calories and saturated fat without pork chops. For those in vegan or vegetarian diets, you can try making your own rendition of Pork Steak with tofu. Because of its more neutral flavor, the spices and seasonings that come with this recipe go perfectly with it. Some specific tofu choices that work best as pork alternatives are mixed tofu, wheat gluten and soy protein isolates.
And one of the most ideal substitutes for this ingredient is Tempeh. This is a frozen good made of grains or fermented soybeans. This is famous for working amazingly with stir-fries. But it can also be very delicious with our flavorful marinade, and has a great dry texture that likens it to pork.
In the place of soy sauce:
An essential tastemaker in most dishes, soy sauce can be truly difficult to go without. Its distinct umami taste provides depth to most stews, and is versatile almost to a fault. Because what would you do when you run out of it? Fortunately, there are a couple of alternatives you can look at if you’ve run out of your supply of soy sauce!
Firstly, you can try getting your hands on some tamari, which is also made from soybeans. But this can also be handy if you have a gluten allergy, as it has no wheat content. But some brands carry some wheat, so it would be helpful to double check just in case! Because of their similar saltiness, you can place the same amount of tamari as the indicated amount in the recipe for soy sauce.
Now perhaps a more common ingredient that would be great as a substitute is Worcestershire sauce. Like tamari, it is a gluten-free component that would work amazingly well in somewhat duplicating the saltiness of soy sauce. However, let me warn you that it has anchovies and shellfish if you are allergic to seafood. Additionally, this ingredient has less of the strong salty flavor of soy sauce, and so you might want to add a bit more of this than your recipe indicates for the latter seasoning.
In the place of calamansi:
Calamansi also plays a great role in adding a unique flavor and twist to Pork Steak. But it can be pretty hard to find in some countries. Now if you can’t access this fruit, we also brought up limes in the recipe earlier as another option. But just in case you can’t grab some of these for our recipe, you can also try using lemons. Both have that refreshing citrus taste that could really liven up a dish.
But because calamansi tends to taste more acidic than lemon, you can try making a mixture that helps other citrus fruits take on a similar flavor. Integrate 1 part orange juice with 3 parts lemon juice– making sure that both are fresh from the fruit– and use this instead for the recipe. This better impersonates the strong flavor of delicious calamansi!
However, try not to be disappointed if some of these substitutes don’t work for you. We still have a ton of other recipes to choose from that taste like this delicious Pork Steak! And if in general, you start to crave more savory, flavorful pork chop dishes like this one, let me show you some other recipes.
Let me recommend a few dishes that provide a tasty twist to Pork Chops like our Pork Steak:
Adobo Pork Chops
Can’t get enough of the pleasantly sour and savory taste of the classic adobo dish? How about you try it with the deliciously tender cut of pork chops? This rendition of the Filipino favorite contains everything your taste buds are probably craving. It’s got a fragrant, succulent stew enriched by dark soy sauce, cane vinegar, bay leaves and peppercorn. But the pork chops add a sophisticated, flavorful twist to the original.
This recipe also perfectly suits a table of 4. But if you’re only cooking for yourself, you can choose to adjust the recipe or keep the rest of the servings for later. After all, adobo can stay fresh, and taste even better with the flavors seeping in for the next few days. Simply refrigerate it if you want to keep it for longer.
Pork Chop Sinigang
Tangy, rich and filled with a satisfyingly colorful batch of chewy vegetables, Pork Chop Sinigang is arguably one of the best ways to have your pork chop. This cut of meat goes particularly well with the rich, comforting taste of our refreshing sinigang. We also only boil the pork chop instead of sautéing for this recipe. This makes it even healthier, and absolutely terrific for the body.
Sinigang already has a pretty good reputation for being an ideal dish when you’re feeling sick. But with a great source of protein in our pork, as well as its only being boiled, this becomes an even better way to have your sour stew with the goodness of Chinese eggplant, okra, snake beans and even more vegetables! Of course, some people prefer their sinigang to be on the hotter side. And so if you want to add some spice to this dish, you can also make use of light green banana peppers.
Marinated Grilled Pork Chop
While all of our previous recipes showed off pork chops sitting well with a flavorful stew, this recipe serves this pork part dry. Although it is not exactly dry, as we know Marinated Grilled Pork Chop for being irresistibly juicy! Spending a minimum of 4 hours marinating, we build our pork’s flavor and texture with the help of limes, liquid seasoning, and garlic.
This might take more time to make than your average meal. But the hours spent are worth it! Once you taste a spoonful of this flavorful pork chop alongside some pleasantly sweet and sour papaya atchara, you are sure to go back for more.
Did you like these previous recipes, as well as the ever-enticing Pork Steak? Share your thoughts and queries with us in the comments below!
Pork Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 pieces pork chops
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 pieces lime or calamansi
- 1/2 cup cooking oil
- 2 pieces onions sliced
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine pork chops, soy sauce, and lime juice in a large bowl or resealable bag. Marinate for at least 1 hour.
- Heat a pan then pour-in cooking oil.
- Pan-fry the marinated pork chops in medium heat for 3 minutes per side.
- Remove excess oil. Pour-in the remaining marinade and water and let boil. Simmer for 45 minutes or until the pork is tender. Note: Add water as needed.
- Add-in the sugar, salt, and pepper then stir.
- Put-in the onions and cook for 3 minutes more.
- Turn-off heat and transfer to a serving plate.
- Serve. Share and enjoy!
Rose Marie Fructuoso says
Very good. I would use less water also and add garlic.
Sheila says
Very useful ang mga recipe ng Panlasang Pinoy,
hfd says
Thank you..learning a lot from you!
More confident cooking Pinoy Menus!
Vanjo Merano says
My pleasure. Thank you for trying my recipes.
Belle says
Thanks for the recipe! This was so good! I doubled the meat and the soy sauce and reduced the water to 1 cup and added some garlic as well. I feel like I could still have kept the soy sauce to 5 tbsp for 8 pork chops and it still would have been fine, but may not be as flavorful? I simmered for 55 minutes as I kept going back and forth on how low the heat should be. At any case, thanks again! Would definitely be making it again.
Venus says
I’m cooking this for my boyfriend today! And he’s very excited to taste filipino food ❤
Thankyou!
Mike says
Added 1 garlic clove Very tasty
Niki says
I used dark soy sauce but found it very salty. Next time I may use 2.5 tablespoons of soy sauce and not 5 as food was too salty. overall a tasty meal. thanks
mids says
i also find your site very useful whenever i have a hard time thinking of what to cook. its very easy to follow especially for a mother like me who’s not that creative and find cooking as a hard task. kudos to you mr.vanjo
Vanjo Merano says
Thanks Mids. Glad to be of help.
Leah Gamboa says
MY KIDS LIKE THIS PORK STEAK VERY MUCH. THIS SITE IS VERY USEFUL FOR ALL THE MOMS OUT THERE..JUST A CLICK OF A FINGER AND THERE YOU GO… SO from the bottom of my heart.. I thank you, May God bless you more……
Vanjo Merano says
You are welcome, Leah.
Jenny says
Hello, thank you for the recipe and all of the other recipes! This site is my official reference whenever I need to cook any Pinoy dish 🙂 please keep it up 🙂
Vanjo Merano says
Jenny -- thanks for the feedback. I am here for people like you.
tybuzz says
Ang galing nang website ninyo. Useful po sa akin kasi hindi po ako marunong mag cook except yung mga i heat lang na foods gaya nang mga mami pancit canton, mga de lata na mga pagkain you lang ang limit ko sa cooking. Pero nang naka surf ako dito ayos na ayos! Parang sky is the limit na yung cooking limit ko!
Kaya THANK YOU PO SA LAHAT NANG TULONG NINYO. THANK YOU SA WEBSITE NINYO. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR STAFF po.
Vanjo Merano says
Maraming salamat sa napakagandang comment, tybuzz. Masaya akong malaman na malaki ang naitulog ng Panlasang Pinoy sa iyo.
You are welcome. Keep on cooking!
cookie says
nice recipe…keep it up!!
kim says
can i use light brown sugar instead of granulated white sugar?thank u.. making in process 😉
Joyce says
I want to cook this for my mom!
very easy procedure, hope she’ll like it..
merch says
thanks to kuya vanjo! i love it!
Mary Grace Huang says
I made this for dinner and my husband loved it! Especially the onion, its his first time to taste Filipino Pork Steak.. BTW, what soy sauce can I use for this dish, today I used a mixture of light, dark, Singapore, and Japanese Soy sauce.. They all have different taste and smell, I can’t decide which one so I added a bit of them. Thank you so much….
nash casaljay says
very easy and nice recipe…delicious !
randie says
thanks to panlasang pinoy.
keep up the good work.
hope soon you can share your pizza recipe.
Vanjo Merano says
I appreciate it. Thanks
marj says
instead of using lime or lemon juice can i use kalamansi instead?thanks 🙂