Beef
Shaking beef ( Bo luc lac)
Shaking beef, bò lúc lắc, bo luc lac

Shaking beef

This is one of the best dishes of beef in Vietnam. We need to have the good wok and strong fire to cook this dish. Beef need to be a little burned outside but still tender and sweet inside. It also need to have advanced skill and very right ingredients but the taste of the dish is worth for your effort.






Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 Thai bird chilies or 1/2 serrano chile, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2/3 pound beef sirloin or flank steak, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1/4 ripe pineapple (about 1/2 cup), cut into bite-sized slices about 1/4-inch thick (optional)
  • 1/2 cup Asian basil leaves, cut in half
  • 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
  • 3 cups watercress, washed, picked over, and torn into bite-sized sprigs
  • 1 ripe tomato, cut into thin wedges


Directions

  • Combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chilies in a large bowl. Set aside.
  • Place the oyster sauce, soy sauce and beef in a medium bowl and toss to coat the meat evenly.
  • Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 5 seconds. Add the beef and quickly stir-fry it until just charred on the edges, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add to the bowl with the lime sauce.
  • Add the pineapple slices, if using, Asian basil and red onion to the beef mixture. Spread the watercress and tomatoes in an attractive manner on a serving platter. Arrange the beef mixture and all its juices on the watercress and serve immediately (if desired, with a warm baguette or steamed rice to soak up the juices).
  • Note: Another way of presenting bo luc lac is to omit the lime dressing completely and serve the beef with a dipping salt mixture made with 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice.
 
Stir-fried Beef with Pineapple

Beef with Pineapple

This is very popular dish of beef in every Vietnamese family. As local beef is the grass fed so it is chewier than grain fed one and the pineapple is very good solution. Together with green papaya, pineapple can soften the meat and bring great taste to the food. It can be the typical dish of beef from Vietnam. The dish also very good looking with yellow color of pineaple ,






Ingredients

  • 1 green pineapple
  • 1/2 cup tapioca starch
  • 350 g beef
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1 bunch coriander
  • 1 scallion
  • Fish sauce, salt, ground black pepper, garlic, dry onion

 

Directions:

1 - Rinse beef with cold water, let it drain off. Cut into thin slices
2 - Peel garlic, scallion and mince them together
3 - Mix beef with fish sauce, minced dry onion, sugar and tapioca starch 

4 - Peel pineapple, remove its eyes, cut in quarters, remove its core and then cut into 0.5 centimeter slices
5 - Dissolve tapioca starch and sugar with water in a bowl 

6 - Pour cooking oil into a pan; stir minced garlic and dry onion until aroma emerges. Put beef in, stir-fry over high heat, when it is almost cooked, ladle out into a plate. 

7 - Pour some more cooking oil in, stir-fry pineapple. Pour the mixture of sugar and tapioca starch in, stir regularly, season with salt. Add beef and stir-fry together.
8 - Ladle out into a plate, spread ground black pepper, coriander on the surface.
 
Beef in Wild Betel Leaf (Thit Bo Nuong La Lot)

Beef pepper

This is very typical and easy making dish from beef that you can find in any family in Vietnam. The Wild Betel leaf really creates very different style and authentic taste for the beef. You can serve it with rice or for drinking as well. Little spicy taste of the leaf, Lemon Grass and black pepper are making very authentic taste for the dish.







Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons finely minced lemongrass (about 1 medium-small stalk)
  • 2 teaspoons Madras curry powder, Sun brand preferred
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) minced scallion, green and white part
  • 2 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional, if you want a firm filling that does not ooze while cooking)
  • About 115 gm (4 oz) la lot leaves with the stems attached, enough to yield 26 to 30 large leaves
  • 1 tablespoon neutral flavoured oil
  • 1 recipe Basic Dipping Sauce (nuoc cham), made with the addition of minced garlic


Derections:

1.    In a bowl, combine the beef with one of the seasoning options and cornstarch. Use your fingers to mix well. Set aside to marinate while you prepare the leaves.
2.    Use scissors or your fingers to detach the leaves from their center stems. Make sure to keep the leaf stem attached to the leaf. You’ll need it later for creating the rolls.
3.    Place the leaves shiny side down on a working surface. Take a bit of meat (about 2 tablespoons) and use your hand to shape it into a small olive of sorts.
4.    Place the meat on the leaf, about 1/3 of the way below the pointy tip. The length of the olive doesn’t need to span the full width of the leaf because the leaf shrivels during cooking. Then roll up the meat in the leaf and use the little stem to seal it up. The roll will keep its shape.
5.    Place the finished roll on a foil-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining leaves until all the beef is used.
6.    Rub a bit of oil on each roll when all of them are done.


There are three options for cooking:

 

i.    Broiling: Place an oven rack on the top third of the pre-heated oven oven.  Slip the baking sheet into the oven and   broil for 6 to 8 minutes, turning them  frequently to cook evenly and prevent too much charring of the leaf.
ii.    Grill: you can also cook the rolls on a stove-top cast iron grill.
iii.    BBQ grill the rolls, prepare a medium charcoal fire (you can hold your hand over the rack for only 4 to 5 seconds) or heat a gas grill to medium.
Transfer to a plate and serve with the dipping sauce. Leftovers reheat well