One of the dishes I learned in my Khmer cooking class was Beef Lok Lak. This is a Cambodian twist on a Vietnamese dish consisting of cubes of marinated and sautéed beef served on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber, then drizzled with a delicious sauce and served with rice and a fried egg sunny side up. Beef can be substituted with chicken. When I next have access to a kitchen I will try making a veggie version with mushrooms and tofu.
[recipes Serves=1 Time=”30 mins” Difficulty=Easy]
Ingredients
For Beef
- 100gms beef
- 4-5tspn vegetable oil (or sunflower oil)
- 1tspn chicken stock powder/knorr/buillion
- 1/2tspn soft palm sugar or jaggery
- 1/2tspn brown sugar
- 1/4tspn of salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1tspn light soy sauce
- 1tspn oyster sauce
- 1-2tspn mild hot chilli sauce
- 2tspn tomato sauce (use less sugar if using ketchup)
- 1tspn black pepper powder
- 1egg
- 2 leaves of lettuce
- 3 whole slices of a tomato
- 2 onion rings, halved
- 1 lime
- handful of coriander leaves
- Steamed rice
Method
- Dice beef into 1.5cms pieces and put in bowl. Add 2tspn of oil, 1/2tspn chicken stock powder, palm sugar, soy sauce, a pinch of salt, oyster sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and 1/4tspn of black pepper powder. Stir and beat with a spoon for a couple of minutes and then put aside.
- Squash and peel the garlic, mince finely and set aside.
- Lay the lettuce leaves on a plate, arrange the onion slices on top and then add tomato slices on stop of the onion. Add steamed ride to the plate.
- Dip Sauce: Squeeze lime in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, 1/2tspn of brown sugar, 1/2tspn of chick stock powder, 1/2tspn of black pepper powder. Stir with a spoon. Set aside.
- Add remaining oil to a frying pan and turn the heat to high. Saute garlic for 10-15 seconds before oil becomes too hot. When garlic turns golden, pour marinated beef in the pan and stir fry until the beef is cooked and the sauce begins to thicken. Add this beef on top of the salad. Garnish with coriander leaves.
- In the same pan, add the dip sauce and stir for a minute or so till it thickens slightly. Pour into a small bowl, set it next to the beef.
- Fry an egg, sunny side up and then put on the plate.
- That’s it. dish is assembled and ready to eat!
[/recipe]
Hungryrover 