Tapa (Filipino cuisine)

Tapa

Beef tapa with garlic fried rice and scrambled eggs
Type	Meat
Course	Main course
Place of origin	Philippines
Main ingredients	Beef, pork, chicken, or fish; salt and spices
Variations	dried or cured

Tapa is dried or cured beef, mutton, venison or horse meat, although other meat or even fish may be used. Filipinos prepare tapa by using thin slices of meat and curing these with salt and spices as a preservation method.

Tapa is often cooked fried or grilled. When served with fried rice and fried egg, it is known as tapsilog (a portmanteau of the Filipino words tapa, sinangag and itlog [egg]). It sometimes comes with atchara (pickled papaya strips) or sliced tomatoes as side dish. Vinegar or ketchup is usually used as a condiment.

Before cooking tapa, the meat is cured or dried and cut in to small portions or thin slices. As a method of preservation, salt and spices are added. After preparation, the meat can be cooked either grilled or fried.

Just like any other ulam (main dish) in Filipino cuisine, tapa is usually partnered with rice. It can be garlic rice, java rice, plain rice or any other types of preparation. As a side dish, tapa sometimes comes with atchara (pickled papaya strips) or sliced vegetables (usually tomatoes). Vinegar (oftentimes with siling labuyo) or ketchup is usually used as a condiment.

Tapsilog is the term used when tapa, garlic-fried rice (sinangag), and fried egg (itlog) are combined into one meal, which is served primarily during breakfast. The word tapa is related to the Sanskrit term tapas which means "heat". In Tagalog, a restaurant that primarily serves tapa is called a tapahan, tapsihan or tapsilugan. According to some sources, tapsilog and tapsihan are colloquial slang words. However, these terms are used by those restaurants and many Filipinos of all social strata. Tapsilog and tapsihan, therefore, may be considered standard words in the Filipino language rather than slang.