Anyhow, I went through a couple of my cookbooks to get some ideas on what I can do different with my beef. The one that interest me was a recipe from The Elephant Walk Cookbook called Stir-Fried Beef with Lemongrass (Cha Sachko Kroeung) ឆារសាច់គោគ្រឿង. I technically borrowed this book from my BFF like 3-4 years ago. One of these days I’ll return it to it’s rightful owner plus a some cook dishes from this book for her to taste. According to the authors Longteine De Monteiro & Katherine Neustadt this dish is an Indian-Chinese hybrid. I read the recipe through and applied the concept but tweaked the flavors and measurements accordingly to my taste.  As a result, I really really love the dish! I was blown away by surprise.  At first I was wary of the flavor afraid it might be too nutty and that it would not pair well with my steamed rice. I was totally wrong. The lemony flavors from the Khmer Kroeung (lemongrass paste) and the spicy jalapenos really help balance out the nutty flavor.

Stir-Fried Beef with Lemongrass
(Cha Sachko Kroeung) ឆារសាច់គោគ្រឿង
adapt from The Elephant Walk Cookbook

Ingredients
½ cup Khmer Kroeung (lemongrass paste)
¾-1 lb beef, cut into 2 inches strips
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small onion, sliced into wedges
6 red jalapeños, quartered length-wise (substitute red bell pepper for color and a mild flavor)
4 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts, coarsely ground in a mortar & pestle
2 stalk green onion, cut into 2 inches & split length-wise
2 tablespoons oil for frying

Method:
Mix sliced beef with Khmer Kroeung and set aside. Use your hands to massage and work the Kroeung into the beef.

Heat oil in a pan. Depending on the size of your pan you might have to fry the beef in batches. Fry them in single layer and do not crowd them. Once you set it in the pan do not move it. Leave it there un-touch for a couple of minutes. This will ensure that you get a nice crusty brown on the beef strips. Then flip to the other side and repeat this step until all the strips are fried.

Sprinkle sugar and add fish sauce. Do a quick stir to incorporate the ingredients.

Toss in the onion, peppers and ¾ of the peanut. Give it another stir and cook for about 3 minutes until onions are soften.

Remove from heat and add green onion reserving a few for garnish and sprinkle with remaining peanuts just before serving.

The rich taste of long-simmered, fork tender beef in the last hour of cooking make this soup/stew hearty and extra delicious! This soup/stew can be enjoyed as a main dish with some toasty bread or as part of a meal with steamed rice. You can even add some rice noodles and turn it into a hearty beef noodle soup.

Tip: Use a tea/herb mesh ball (can be purchase at Walmart for about $2), to catch all the little spices so you don’t have to dig it out later.

Beef Soup|Stew with Potatoes & Carrots
(Soup Ko Domlong  & Karot) ស្ងោរស៊ុបគោដំលូងនឹងក៉ារត់

Ingredients
2 lbs beef short ribs, trim excess fat and discard if any
10 cups water
2 tablespoons oil
2 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 red potatoes, cut into big chunks
1 small onion, cut in half
1 beef bouillon cube
cilantro sprigs to garnish

Spices (add to tea/herb mesh ball)
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 inch piece ginger

Seasoning
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

Method:
Heat a heavy pan with oil and and beef. Sear each side 2-3 minutes. Transfer seared meat to a large pot and add 10 cups of water and bring it to a boil.

Add potatoes, carrots, onions and the tea/herb mesh ball (containing spices). Bring them all to a rolling boil again then cover and simmer for 2 hours or more. The longer you simmer the tender the beef gets. However if you wish to simmer for longer than 2 hours then do not add the carrots and potatoes until half way into the simmer as you don’t want the vegetables to get all soft and mushy.

About 10 minutes before serving add seasonings. To serve ladle to a bowl and garnish with cilantro sprigs.

Spicy Beef Basil Sandwhich

It’s the weekend and I was out an about in San Francisco playing tourist and hitting Twin Peaks which is a must-stop on every tourist’s list of places to go when visiting San Francisco, CA. Why there? Twin Peaks offer a magnificent view of San Francisco. It is situated almost at the geographical center of the city.

My friends and I used to refer to Twin Peaks in Cambodian as “Phnom Ow-Tronorb” which literally translate to “Bra Mountain” because of the identical hump. LOL Okay, minds out of the gutter. Anyways, I left home with short sleeves and the AC in the car blast on med-high. It was pretty toasty. However as soon as we got to the top of the summit it was like we were in North Pole. Luckily we have extra jackets in the car. It was very very cold, windy and foggy up there. A bit hard to get the city view due to the fog that was coming in from the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, we managed to take a couple of pictures and headed back down where we took our jackets off and turned the AC back on again.

When I got back home it was close to dinner time. Didn’t want to get all elaborate on my dishes I decided to whip up something quick. Checked the fridge and saw some beef and immediately thought about combining it with the fresh jalapeños and basil in the garden. Looked to one side and saw some left over French Baguette. Perfect! I put it all together and came up with this extra Spicy Beef Basil Sandwich នុំបុ័ងសាច់គោជីក្រហម. Maybe the new Cambodian Sandwich shop that opened up in New York (Num Pang Sandwich Shop) would consider adding this to their menu? LOL I must be dreaming in broad daylight. The stir-fry is great with steam rice too but I wanted to use the bread before it gets all hard and crusty on me.

Beef Basil Sandwich Ingredients

Ingredients
½ lb beef, thinly sliced
5  jalapeños, thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a handful of basil leaves
1 foot long french baguette

Marinade
½ tablespoon sugar
½ tablespoon oyster sauce
½ tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Method:
First marinade beef and set aside. In the meantime prepare all the other ingredients.

Heat up a  non-stick pan and throw in the slice shallots and onions. Turn the heat down to medium and saute them until soft and caramalized. Remove and set aside.

Turn the heat back up and return the pan add garlic and cook until brown then toss in the beef. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add slice jalapeños. Once the jalapeños softens add basil and turn off the heat. Mix in the basil until it starts to wilt.

Cut bread lengthwise and remove (hollow-out) some of the bread. This will make room for the stuffing.  You can also toast the bread briefly for that extra warm crunch. Add stir-fry beef basil and some caramelized shallots and onion. Then top it off with the other half of the bread. The sandwich is now ready. To serve you can either cut it in half or quarter them.

Cambodian Spicy & Sour soup known in Cambodian as សម្លម្ចូគ្រឿងសាច់គោ (Somlaw Machew Kroeung Sach Ko) is one of my all time favorite Cambodian dish.  It can be made with either beef or pork, although I have heard that some like to cook with fish as well. The beef tripe is optional. I like it because it adds a crunchy and chewy texture to the soup.  What I do with my beef tripe is to clean it out and then pour hot boiling water directly on the tripe. Allow it to sit for a few minutes. This helps eliminate the unpleasant odor. Some people like to add a couple drops of vinegar. Then drain, wash and proceed. The authentic version use pickle-fish (pahok) however, like I had mentioned in my other post you can leave it out if you don’t like the smell or taste. Also, if you have access to Holy Basil (maress prov), I highly recommend using it. I did not have it atm, so I’m using regular basil.

Cambodian Spicy & Sour Beef Soup
(Somlaw Machew Kroeung Sach Ko) សម្លម្ចូគ្រឿងសាច់គោ

Ingredients
1 ½ lb steak, sliced or cut into bite size pieces (you can also use other cuts of beef, pork ribs or bone-in chicken – delicious too!)
1 cup of lemongrass paste (Kroeung)
½ lb water spinach (Trokoun) stems pound with the back of your knife, cut into 2 inch lengths
2 tablespoons cream-style pickled fish (Prohok)
1 lb beef tripe, slice (optional)
4 jalapenos, slice into quarters  (optional)
1 cup of basil leaves (use holy basil if you can get them)
5-6 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons knorr sour soup base
3 tablespoons sugar
water

Method:
Heat pot and add lemongrass paste. Fry until fragrant about 1-2 minutes. Add beef and half way through cooking add the creamy pickle-fish. Stir and mix well.

Next add enough water to cover about ½ inch above the meat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the meat is tender about 30 minutes depending on the cut of meat.

Turn the heat back to high and add sugar, fish sauce, knorr soup base  and  adjust the saltiness and sourness according to taste, by varying the amount of pickled fish, and soup base.

Finally add the beef tripe, water spinach and jalapenos. Allow the soup to continue cooking for a couple of minute until the water spinach turns to an olive green color but not too soggy.

Turn off the heat and add basil leaves. Give it a quick stir then ladle to a bowl and serve with steam rice.

Tip 1: If you find that there’s too much liquid in the soup, take off the pot cover and allow the liquid to reduce.

Tip2: Only add the amount of water spinach that can be eaten in one sitting.  Basically fish out all the water spinach if you are anticipate on having leftovers. This will prevent the water spinach from turning soggy when you reheat the soup.  If you do reheat the leftovers, add a new bach of fresh water spinach.  This will make the dish taste not only nice and fresh but more delicious because by now the meat is very tender.