Intense, Luxury Beef Pares Recipe 😀

It was flavorful and made me get an extra serving of rice 🙂

BEEF PARES

1 pack Australian Beef (Stewing Cubes), about 600g
1 white onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small thumb-sized ginger, sliced

1/4 cup Coconut Brand Soy Sauce
1/4 cup xiaoshing wine
2 cups water
1 Knorr beef cube
1 big laurel leaf
1 1/2 star anise
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar

Brown sugar, to taste (I used about 1/3 to 1/2 cup)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cornstarch slurry (1 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water)

Green onions
Sesame oil

I used my Instant Pot to cook this.

Procedure

Saute garlic in some oil until brown. Take out half for garnish later.

• Add onions to sauteeing garlic.
• Add ginger.
• Add beef.
• Add soy sauce, wine, water, star anise, laurel, vinegar, beef cube.
• Season with black pepper.
• Mix.
• Pressure cook for 40-50 minutes, depending on how tender you want the beef to be.

Note: if using regular pressure cooker, user more water because water evaporates while cooking. However, when using an Instant Pot, there’s almost no evaporation.

Note 2: For some reason, the beef cubes weren’t as tender as I had expected after 45 minutes of pressure cooking. They weren’t like tough tough, I mean, they were tender enough and quite edible, but they just weren’t as fall-apart tender as I had expected. But on the upside, this Beef Pares tasted very, very beefy!

• After pressure cooking, check seasoning, season with salt & pepper, if needed. Add sugar.

• If taste is ok (should be a bit strong since we will be adding a cornstarch slurry and that will mute the seasoning a bit) – add cornstarch slurry. Mix well, let the sauce thicken.
• Turn off heat. Add green onions, fried garlic & sesame oil.

Enjoy ❤️

Update: My friend @candishhh told me that she was also having some trouble when using Australian beef! They also weren’t as tender as she had expected after pressure cooking. I thought it was just me. I thought that maybe I should have pressure cooked the beef without the soy sauce and should have just added the soy sauce after the beef has tenderized.

Note: The Coconut Brand soy sauce is dark. If you want a lighter colored beef pares, reduce the soy sauce and just add more salt

Why Coconut? Yan ang gamit ni mother, ni auntie, etc… It’s also the only naturally fermented soy sauce made locally that I have seen in supermarkets. We buy them in gallon sizes, it’s just around P200+.

Why naturally fermented? True soy sauce is fermented for a long time. Most of the cheap soy sauces in the supermarkets are what I call “fake” soy sauce – just salt, water, caramel & coloring!! Check the labels. Dapat may something something soybeans. Kasi nga soy sauce siya. Kung walang soybeans, salt sauce lang siya. You can taste the difference. Walang lasa yung fake, it’s just salty with no depth nor umami.

You can also use Kikkoman instead if you like ?

#QuarantineCooking