Papaitan/ Pinapaitang Baka

Its been a while since I cooked this dish but cannot locate the pictures I had taken…but last night, was able to, so now I’m sharing it here in my blog.

I don’t exactly know the parts of beef for this recipe except the innards. We buy fresh meat at Karama meat shop (yes we are suki, go there every month even though its half hour drive from our residence). Forget the parts for pinapaitan, just visit the shop and ask for pinapaitan. The butchers (note they are not Filipinos) know already what to give..meat, liver, innards, bile. But the latter I don’t really take it..I just don’t like the thought playing in my mind…instead, for a bit of bitter taste, I add bitter gourd slices which serves as substitute for the bile. Okay, the recipe for the above pictured dish. But first the ingredients:

• set of beef pinapaitan meat, 1 kg
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Ginger, chopped half cup
• 1 head onion, chopped
• Scallions/ spring onions, sliced about an inch
• Lemon slices
• 1 tablespoon EVOO (Extra-virgin olive oil)
• Pepper & salt
• 1 knorr vegetable bullion cube
• Optional: 1 green finger chilly (siling haba)
• Optinal: 1 cup bitter gourd, sliced thinly

First, take some time for cleaning the meat, especially the innards. My brother usually does this part. Wash thoroughly the meat, rub the meat with coarse salt and again wash.

We go easy way. We tenderize the meat using a pressure cooker. Put the meat in the cooker, add water just enough to cover the meat, seal the lid and cook for 30 minutes. Done tenderizing.

Remove the meat from the cooker, let it cool and slice into desired size.

In a casserole, put EVOO just enough coat the pan. Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger till translucent. Drop the meat slices, sauté for 5 minutes in low fire. Add the broth plus water if broth is not enough. Drop in bullion cube. Bring to boil. Season with salt & pepper. Add one finger chilly for a bit of spice. Add bitter gourd slices for bile/ bitterness taste. Cook till the vegetables are done.

Serve while hot.  Garnish with scallions and lemon slices.

Note: Heard from my doctor that lamang loob meat triggers rheumatism? So watch the volume you eat if you have such health problem.