It was the lack of dining options that fueled couple AR and Jam Periquet’s passion for discovering new recipes during the pandemic. It’s for this same love that Brunchmate, an improved version of their favorite breakfast dish beef tapa, a Filipino cured meat, is born out into the world.
Their idea was to create a tasty recipe they could enjoy with the family. “My husband is really passionate about delicious food… He wanted to elevate the usual versions of tapa so he used premium black angus and added a couple of secret ingredients too,” said Jam when asked how the business came about.
“After several iterations, AR came up with “the one” and we shared it to our family and close friends,” she added, pointing out that orders poured in soon after that.
Fast forward to now, Brunchmate is being shipped across the metro, and been getting attention from the food bloggers community.
I had the chance to try it and I can say I loved it because of its meat quality. Most tapas in the supermarket are filled with toxic preservatives and tenderizers. Brunchmate has the USDA Choice seal which guarantees its high-quality.
Below are the recipes I tried using Brunchmate Beef Tapa. You can try at home. Easy to prepare and healthy too.
Beef Tapa Recipes you can try at home
1. Black pepper stir-fry
Ingredients:
- 350g Brunchmate Premium Beef Tapa – Original flavor
- 1 packet Asian Home Gourmet* Black Pepper Stir-fry paste (If you don’t have this, you may use rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, starch, salt and pepper instead)
- Half a clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 Onion, sliced
- 100g Vegetables (I prefer to use radish, eggplant, bell pepper, corn, lots of cilantro*, leek… other times I add purple cabbage and mung bean sprouts)
- 2 tbsp Extra virgin Olive oil
- 100g Udon Noodle (Sometimes I use Angel hair pasta or Glass noodles (Sotanghon))
How to cook:
1. Once you have all the ingredients ready, heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until it’s hot.
2. Add the oil and garlic and give it a few stirs before adding the beef tapa.
3. Once the beef tapa has browned on one side, flip the meat over and brown the other side. When the beef tapa has browned on at least two sides, add the onions and vegetables and stir-fry the mixture until the onions start to turn translucent. Add the black pepper paste and toss everything together until the paste is well distributed around the meat and vegetables.
4. In a separate stockpot, bring 1 liter water to boil. Add noodles and begin timing after water has returned to boil. Boil noodles 8 to 9 minutes.
5. Mix stir-fried meat and veggies with udon noodles. Serve and enjoy!
*I really love cilantro and I feel that this dish is elevated by using lots of it – I use about half to one cup
*I find that it is cheaper to buy Asian Home Gourmet packets at the Market Place which sells it at around 90pesos compared to online sellers pricing it at 125-249 pesos per pack
2. Beef Tapa curry (Rogan Josh)
Rogan Josh is my hubby’s favorite Indian dish. I get to serve him this at home using beef tapa and Asian Home Gourmet Meat Curry packet. If I crave for Japanese Curry rice, I use the Japanese Curry.
Ingredients:
- 350g Brunchmate Premium Beef Tapa – Original flavor
- 2 tbsp cup vegetable oil
- 1 packet Asian Home Gourmet Meat Curry paste
- 1 large onions – minced
- minced garlic
- minced ginger
- 3 whole green cardamom pods
- 1 inch stick cinnamon bark (can use cinnamon powder)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 greek yoghurt
- 1 cup water
- salt
- 2 small tomatoes
How to cook:
1. Once you have all the ingredients ready, heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until it’s hot.
2. Add the oil and garlic and give it a few stirs before adding the beef tapa.
3. Once the beef tapa has browned on one side, flip the meat over and brown the other side. When the beef tapa has browned on at least two sides, set aside.
4. In the same pan, add the onions. Stir-fry until the onions start to turn translucent. Reduce heat to medium-low. Move the onions to the outer edges and add a splash of oil. Add the spices (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bay) and cook about 30 seconds.
5. Mix in the ginger paste and Asian Home Gourmet Meat Curry paste and cook another 30 seconds.
6. Return the meat and accumulated juices and scrape up any browned bits in the bottom of the pot. Mix in the yoghurt one tbsp at a time.
7. Add a big tsp of salt with enough water to almost cover the meat. Adjust salt and add the cherry tomatoes. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Cook until meat is tender. Give it a stir every 10 minutes.
8. Serve with rice.
3. Beef Tapa with fried rice and egg
This typical Filipino breakfast a.k.a TAPSILOG is another favorite in our house. There are only three brands I trust for premium quality meat and Brunchmate is one of them.
Ingredients:
- 350g Brunchmate Premium Beef Tapa – Original flavor
- 2 tbsp cup vegetable oil
- minced garlic
- minced ginger
- minced coriander
- Brown eggs
How to cook:
1. Once you have all the ingredients ready, heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until it’s hot.
2. Add the oil and garlic, minced giner and coriander and give it a few stirs before adding the beef tapa.
3. Once the beef tapa has browned on one side, flip the meat over and brown the other side. When the beef tapa has browned on at least two sides, set aside.
4. Fry the eggs. I prefer sunny-side up. But you can also do scrambled eggs mixing it in with the fried rice.
5. Serve beef tapa with rice, pickled vegetables on the side, and vinegar.
4. Beef Tapa with Ebara barbecue sauce
Ingredients:
- 350g Brunchmate Premium Beef Tapa – Original flavor
- Ebara BBQ sauce
- 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
- Lettuce
How to cook:
1. Once you have all the ingredients ready, heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until it’s hot.
2. Reduce heat to low. Add the oil and beef tapa.
3. Cook the tapa at low heat. Let it sizzle lightly until the fat renders and it turns golden brown.
4. Serve with lettuce and garlic and Ebara BBQ sauce as dip
About Brunchmate Premium Beef Tapa
Brunchmate is located in Las Pinas City where the couple resides.
It has 4 flavors:
Original , Sweet & Spicy, Garlic, and Spicy Garlic. Each 350G pack is sold at only P280PHP.
At the moment, the owners are working on putting pick-up points around the metro and getting resellers due to growing demand.
How to order:
Send Brunchmate a direct message:
https://tinyurl.com/orderbunchmate
Like and follow their social accounts for updates and promotions:
https://www.facebook.com/brunchmate
https://www.instagram.com/brunchmate_ph/
