I grew up with this family heirloom dish, a recipe passed down from my paternal grand-mother. She would chop plenty of onions and sauté them with the ripest tomatoes, creating a rich base in which slices of beef sirloin would gently simmer. For most of my life, this was the only "sarsiyado" I knew.
Apparently, many of my fellow Filipinos know it differently. For them, sarsiyado is fried fish served with a light sofrito (a variant finished with scrambled eggs being a kardílyo). Over time, I began to question my culinary heritage. It could be that the dish I had grown up loving was a big fat lie my ancestors had concocted... some-thing which existed only with in our family. I was even slightly embarrassed by the thought that we might have been calling a dish by the wrong name all along.
That was until a visit to Malabon put my doubts to rest. According to my friend, local food tour guide Isi Laureano, their family also serves sarsiyadong bakà; and it is a dish typical from their community. Suddenly, it all made sense. That side of my family traces its roots to San Miguel, Bulacan; and given Bulacan's proximity to Malabon, I began to suspect that sarsiyadong bakà may have been a Central Tagalog specialty that the old-timers would certainly recognise.
Unless, of course, there are others out there who can confirm that they also grew up with this dish.