Tapsilog
Cured beef tapa served with garlic fried rice and a fried egg, with vinegar on the side for dipping. A breakfast plate found across the Philippines.
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total
- 40 min
- serves
- 4
- level
- easy
Tapsilog is a name built from three words squeezed together, tapa, sinangag and itlog, cured beef, garlic rice and a fried egg, and it's the breakfast plate found at small eateries all across the Philippines.
Day-old rice is what actually makes the garlic fried rice work; fresh rice turns soft and clumpy where cold, dried-out rice fries up loose and a little crisp.
Part of our 20 best Filipino recipes list.
method
Combine the soy sauce, calamansi juice, half the minced garlic, sugar and pepper. Add the beef slices, and marinate for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight in the fridge.
Heat a pan over medium-high heat, and cook the beef slices for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until browned and just cooked through. Set aside.
In the same or a separate pan, heat the oil and fry the remaining garlic until golden and fragrant.
Add the cold rice, breaking up any clumps, and stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes, until heated through and lightly crisped in spots. Season with salt.
Fry the eggs in a separate pan, sunny-side up, until the whites are set and the yolk is still runny.
Plate the beef tapa, garlic rice and a fried egg together, and serve with a small dish of vinegar for dipping.
chef's tips
- Tapsilog gets its name from stacking three words together: tapa, sinangag (garlic fried rice) and itlog (egg), a pattern repeated across many Filipino breakfast "-silog" plates.
- Day-old, cold rice fries up far better than fresh rice, which turns mushy and clumps together in the pan.
- Marinating the beef overnight makes a real difference; an hour works, but overnight gets more flavor into the meat.
- Vinegar on the side, rather than mixed into anything, is the traditional way to cut through the richness of the egg and beef.