Beef or Tofu Tinaktak
Beef Tinaktak is one of Guam's most popular dishes. It's easy to make, requires few ingredients and it's very tasty. Moreover, it's flexible. My daughter is a vegetarian so I made this recipe with beef for us and with tofu for her. I see no reason why boneless chicken or pork wouldn't work either. Indeed, most recipes call for ground beef, but I prefer using beef slices.
I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I had bought the green beans earlier in the week and they had wilted by the time I cooked this, so I ommitted them altogether. You can use other vegetables if you don't have green beans. I used siracha rather than Tabasco sauce in this recipe – the most popular hot sauce in Guam – because I thought the sweetness of siracha would work well with it. It did.
Serve this dish with rice. And you may want to double the recipe, it tastes better the next day.
Beef Tinaktak
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef or 1 lb extra-firm tofu
- 1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 2" pieces
- 2 Tbsp. oil
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 can coconut milk
- hot pepper sauce (optional)
Directions
If using beef, thinly slice it into bite size pieces. If using tofu, cut into bite size squares.
Blanche the green beans.
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan. Add onions, garlic and beef, if using (if using tofu do not add at this point). Cook until the beef is brown and the onion is soft.
Add the stewed tomatoes, including the liquid. Using a wooden spoon, cut the tomatoes into small pieces. Mix well. Add the blanched green beans and tofu (if using) and season with salt and pepper. Slowly add the coconut milk, reduce temperature to low and simmer for five minutes. Add hot pepper sauce to taste, adjust seasoning and serve with rice.
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Adapted from Annie Merfalen's recipe at Annie's Chamorro Kitchen.
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