I was thinking of the perfect “budget” meal and thought of bistek Tagalog (Filipino beef steak).  Serve this with rice for lunch or dinner.  If you want to eat this for breakfast, just throw a fried egg with it.  If you’re not into left overs, cut the steak up and onions, and toss it in with rice and fry= bistek fried rice. It’s perfect for on a budget meal because it only requires 4 ingredients.  If soy sauce is a staple ingredient in your kitchen, then you are set if you have the other three ingredients on hand.

Here is my recipe that serves 2:

• 2 lbs of sirloin steak about 1/4 inch thick
• 4 tbsp. of calamani or lemon juice
• 6 tbsp. of low sodium soy sauce
• fresh ground pepper
• one onion sliced into rings
• oil for frying
• salt to caramelize the onion
• 1/2 cup of water

1. Season beef with pepper on both sides.
2. Put meat in a ziplock bag, add the soy sauce and calamansi juice. Massage the meat with the marinade and marinade for 4 hours or more.
3. When meat is ready to be cooked, heat up oil in a pan and saute your onion rings. Season with salt.
4. Once onion rings are cooked, set them aside. Sear steak on the same pan, on both sides.
5. Set steak aside. Pour remainder of the marinade on the pan with 1/2 cup of water until reduced to half. When reduced, put steak on platter, with onions on top, and pour cooked marinade over.