WCS turned ILYS: Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce

I don't get to see my in-laws often. To be honest, I'd rather spend the weekend somewhere nearby, if not at home. There's also Saturday night choir practice and Sunday morning mass service midway through the weekend, so going somewhere far is not really advisable. Usually, it would just be hubby who would go to Calamba on random days. So when I do go to visit hubby's family, I've made it a point to bring something, usually ulam. Once, I also bought some of my Cheater Cookies, which my mother-in-law liked.

After a very long while, I visited with hubby just this Saturday and brought some Stir-fry Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce.

Stir-fried Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce

I'm very happy with this stir-fry. It's simple but really delicious. My mom told me it was something worth serving to guests and my dad complimented me that I've really gotten good in cooking (palakpak ang tenga, hehehe). Hubby's parents liked this dish, too. They even served it to a couple of guests who dropped by their house shortly after hubby and I finished lunch.

Because we planned to leave early on Saturday morning--supposedly at 8:00 AM, but because I suddenly decided to make a cheater breakfast, we were not able to leave until almost 9:00 AM--I planned to already cook the evening before. However, I had to render overtime on Friday night. Hubby and I arrived home almost 11:00 PM. We just took a quick break then went to work. I asked hubby to help me prep up as I had two recipes in line: the beef dish for lunch, and my very own chicken sandwich spread for the choir's after-practice merienda.

"Men for a Month" featuring...hubby! Hahaha!

While the rest of the world sleeps, here's
me and hubby toiling away in the kitchen

As I said, I love this recipe. My only complaint is not on the dish, but on the meat. Beef takes so long to cook, even if you have them sliced thinly. I'm afraid of pressure cookers so don't suggest that I use one. The good news is, because it does take time, the flavors in the sauce would have been well absorbed by the meat and all the waiting would be worthwhile.

Stir-fry the beef until it changes color.

Not the usual sequence. The garlic and onion

come in after the beef has been stir-fried.

The bell peppers make this dish colorful.

Add oyster sauce, water and brown sugar. Season with

salt and pepper, stir in sesame oil. Before serving, you
may top with spring onions and sesame seeds (if you
have). Easy, no?

With the two recipes, I finished sometime between 2:00-3:00 AM (take note, the beef was still somewhat rubbery, hahaha). Hubby already went on ahead and went to bed an hour before and I let him go lest he started slicing his fingers. ^_^

Other recipe this evening/midnight/early morning: Chicken Sandwich Spread

Stir-fried Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce

Recipe in Yummy Menu for a Month and Yummy.ph

*BB*

SQF: Gyudon-ish beef dish

30 JANUARY 2011. I had it all planned out. I was going to cook gyudon. I don't know why, I was just craving for something Asian, I suppose. Due to the major renovation going on at SM Southmall, Tokyo Tokyo is closed and it was only during the wedding night that I was able to eat there again, but at the ATC food court (yes, hubby and I were out gallivanting at ATC on our wedding night. LOL). And there's that unopened bottle of mirin which has been glaring at me from the shelf for months already. I decided that it was finally its time.
On Saturday morning, it happened mom was going to the plaza to buy fresh meat. I was just about to start doing some laundry. I quickly dressed and went with her.

I bought over a kilo of thinly sliced beef for the gyudon and about a kilo of beef round which I requested to be ground for that suddenly-I-want-pasta moments. The meat easily cost me P500. O_O Good thing I bought the other ingredients way in advance.

It turned out I had to slice the beef some more. The beef was still on the thick side. But even after I had worked on it some more, it wasn't still gyudon-thin. How do they get it so thin in the restaurant? =( I tried to get it as thin as possible. The result looked more like beef stirfry strips. Hahaha! Well anyway, I proceeded with the cooking.

I'm not very familiar with beef, as I'm a chicken person and my only relationship with beef goes as far as pasta sauce. I discovered that cooking it to the right tenderness, or at least to an acceptable level, takes quite a long time. Hubby and I got a pressure cooker as a wedding gift, but I'm just as much scared of it as I am of the oven. =| So I let the beef cook away in the pot.

After carving for Asian for so long, I had a delicious meal. Ate more than I should have. LOL. Hubby enjoyed eating (the leftovers survived for a couple more meals the day after). Mom said it was something like lomo because of the ginger. Too bad I didn't have that sweet red ginger stuff they have at Japanese restaurants. That would've completed the look. Plus thinner-cut meat.

My gyudon-ish dish topped on rice

Little bro came home late from a PC repair service (rumaraket na ang kapatid ko). Mom instructed him not to eat at his client's (because he usually does), so he was able to try out the beef. He was asking me about it before he left, saying he didn't know what gyudon was. When I saw him later that evening, he said, "Your beef is good."

I'll cook this again another time. When I find a way to have the meat cut thinner.

Gyudon-ish
Serves 5 or more
recipe to follow (based on several versions I found online)

*BB*