Have you heard of the yummy Ilonggo Beef Kansi?
If you want warm and comforting food on a rainy weeknight or a cold day, try this dish from Iloilo, the Kansi (or Cansi).
This is a perfect dinner to serve to your family from a hard day’s work and it will satisfy you with its flavorful soup. Aside from it being something you can cook on a regular day, it is also a nice choice for serving on some special occasions, if you want to let the people taste something unique and really delicious.
Continue to read this recipe article and learn more about the kansi and see some tips when cooking this dish.
What is Kansi?
Kansi is a type of soup dish which originated from the Ilonggo people in the Western Visayas region.
It is well-known all over the Philippines. This sour dish is made of beef shank partnered with jackfruit, batuan or kamias, tomatoes, garlic, among other seasonings. The soup is made of the beef broth, annatto powder, and tamarind flavoring.
This flavorful dish is usually associated with bulalo or sinigang because of its similarities. You can see our recipe of the bulalo and sinigang if you also want to learn how to make them.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Beef Shank
In this dish, we only use one type of meat cut, this is bone-in beef shanks with lots of bone marrow inside. In the Philippines, this is also known as the bulalo cut.
Batuan
Some other recipes of the kansi use a native fruit in the Western Visayas region called the batuan.
It is a great idea to add this in the ingredients, but since it is not always available especially in other parts of the Philippines and other parts of the world, it can be deemed as an optional ingredient, and you can simply add other alternative ingredients which adds a rich sour flavor to the dish.
Annatto
Aside from the annatto powder, you can use annatto oil instead. It is made from a combination of fresh ingredients, namely, annatto seeds and some chicken skin or chicken fat, garlic, and bay leaf. For instructions on how to make annatto oil you can follow the procedure from our Chicken Inasal recipe.
Aside from these, we will also be using other regular pantry ingredients like garlic, onions, tomato, lemongrass, jackfruit, kamias, chili, tamarind, salt, black pepper, and cooking oil. If you are filling up your pantry, here’s a handy shopping guide:
Equipment You’ll Need
- Cooking Pot- Cooking kansi involves slow-simmering the meat in water. For this, you need a deep cooking pot that could hold 5 cups of water.
- Pressure Cooker (Optional)- If you have a pressure cooker, you can use this to greatly reduce the cooking time to 30 minutes.
In need of kitchen tools and equipment? Read this before you buy:
How to Cook Kansi
Cooking the kansi is similar to cooking the popular dishes such as bulalo and sinigang, as mentioned earlier. To start with this, let us break down the process into the three parts of the cooking procedure, in order for you to visualize it more easily.
First, if you’re going to use fresh tamarind pods, you have to extract the juice from it. Second, you have to prepare all the other ingredients. The last step is to cook them all in a large cooking pot. It is a straightforward process and all you have to do is to keep an eye on the ingredients to avoid overcooking.
Cooking Tips
- Use a pressure cooker, if it is available with you. If you want the kansi to cook much faster, you are going to need this. Instead of the normal simmering for about 2 hours, the time it will need for the beef to be cooked and to be tender will take only 30 minutes.
How to Serve Kansi
Just lik bulalo, kansi is usually served hot on lunch and dinner meals. It is a best seller on cold weathers and rainy days. It is paired with freshly cooked white rice. Make sure you cook extra because there something about kansi that makes you eat more rice 😉
How to Store and Reheat Kansi
To store leftovers, make sure you allow it to cool to room temperature then transfer it to clean food container with lid. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 2 months.
To reheat (thaw first if frozen), you can use a microwave oven or in a stove. Apply medium heat until the soup is hot enough to consume.
Other Filipino Beef Recipes
For a quick reference about this recipe, see the recipe table below:
Ilonggo Beef Kansi Recipe
Equipment
- Cooking Pot
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) beef shank
- 1 pc medium-sized onion, cut into wedges
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pc tomato, cut into wedges
- 2 pcs lemongrass, tanglad, peeled and thick end pounded
- 500 g (1.1 lbs) green jackfruit, sliced
- 4 pcs kamias
- 2 pcs chili pepper, siling labuyo
- 2 tbsp annatto powder
- 15 pcs tamarind pods
- 8 cups water, or as needed
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Fill a cooking pot with water, add-in the tamarind pods and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender and skin begin to burst.
- Transfer to another plate and mash the tamarind with a fork or any other hard object.
- Pour-in the tamarind liquid in another bowl while using a strainer. Repeat this process until all of the juice of the tamarind is extracted. Set aside.
- In a deep cooking pot, pour-in and heat oil over medium heat.
- Add-in the minced garlic. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes or until limp and aromatic.
- Add-in the beef shank. Cook and turn every now and then until lightly seared.
- Pour-in the water and bring to a boil.
- Add-in the onion wedges, and tomato wedges. Set to low heat then cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beef is tender.
- In a bowl, dilute annatto powder in 1 cup of broth from the pot. Add into the pot and then add-in the tamarind juice. Stir until well dispersed.
- Add-in the lemongrass, green jackfruit, kamias, and chili peppers. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Pin and save this recipe to your Pinterest account! Click on the Pin button above 🙂
Thank you and I hope you find this article useful! It’ll mean a lot if you RATE THE RECIPE by clicking the stars and SHARE THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS! 🙂
