Manyaman Beef Asado is a type of Filipino Beef Stew from Pampanga where beef is cooked in tomato-based sauce mixed with Chinese style asado ingredients like star anise and brown sugar
What is manyaman? Why do I see it on some Filipino dishes, specially from the Kapampangan cuisine? Well Manyaman is the Kapampangan word for “Masarap”, in English “Delicious”. As we all know, Pampanga is the culinary capital of the Philippines ,hence most of the popular and most delicious recipes come from this region. They have tons of dishes that became so popular, Filipinos encounter and eat them on a daily basis, dishes like sisig, morcon, menudo, caldereta and afritada. Now to make things special, dishes that go way beyond the normal delicious where secret ingredients are added, manyaman is added to its name. So anything with this denoted you can bet it will be the best version of the dish you are having.
Our recipe for today have that denotation, the Manyaman Beef Asado. Asado can mean many things, in Spanish they are meats cooked in an open fire, in Filipino Chinese they are meats cooked in a spiced sweet-savoury sauce which is usually made from soy sauce and sugar but in Pampanga they cook this meats on a tomato based sauce. Now how about the Manyaman version? Well this is where it gets special as the three of these are combined together to form this wonderful dish that is so worthy of the “manyaman” word. A special occasion dish where it starts by charcoal grilling the meats before it is stewed on a tomato-based sauce infused with spices you see in the Chinese Asado. Having said that other households might do it differently but our recipe for today is something I learned from my Kapampangan friends during my university days.
Manyaman Beef Asado is a type of Filipino Beef Stew from Pampanga where beef is cooked in tomato-based sauce mixed with Chinese style asado ingredients like star anise and brown sugar
Ingredients
Scale
1 kg chuck steak (choose the ones with lots of marbling), whole or big cuts
Season chuck steak with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Prepare a charcoal grill then grill chuck steak in high heat for 4 minutes per side. Remove steak from the grill, let it cool for 5 minutes.
Cut steak into cubes then set it aside together with the juices.
In a wok heat oil then sauté garlic and onions.
Add tomato paste then cook for a minute in medium heat.
Add the cubed chuck steak together with the juices then add the beef stock, chopped tomatoes, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, sugar, and star anise. Bring it to a boil and simmer in low heat for 1 hour.
Place the button mushrooms then continue to cook for 45 minutes. Check for liquid levels and add water if necessary.
Add potatoes and butter then continue to cook for 15 minutes.
Bring heat to high and reduce the sauce to a thick consistency then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, squeeze lemon juice on top, give it a mix then turn the heat off.
Anise stars are one of my favourite spices. Your beef stew looks so flavoursome and mouthwatering.
I think I would really love these flavors!
Fantastic flavors – and such good comfort food!
Looks yummy! That’s a new technique for me- first cooking the steak on a charcoal grill, then transferring everything to a wok!
I can just imagine how wonderful the kitchen smells as this dish is cooking. Love that it’s grilled for the dish, so much wonderful smoky flavour.
Oh me oh my!!! I get hungry just looking at the photo. It looks absolutely gorgeous!