Marinated Beef with Lime Sauce aka Loc Lak

A beautiful dish that is simple to make. It can be serve alone as a salad or as a meal with rice. I read somewhere that Beef Loc Lak ឡុកឡាក់សាច់គោ was introduce to Cambodia by the Vietnamese.  Due to it’s close proximity there are a lot of cultural and cuisine exchanges. Although each country has it’s own variation depending on region areas both countries refer to it with the same name “Loc Lak”.  I’m not going to go into details about the origin or history of this dish. If you like to read more, you can read Phnomenon post about this subject. All that matters to me is that the dish taste good.

Don’t get discourage by the lengthy list of ingredients. It’s all in the preparation. The cooking time goes by very quick.

Ingredients

Beef Marinade
1 lb beef cut into 1 inch cube – I like to use the cross rib steak as I find it tender and juicy
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
½ tablespoon fish sauce
½ tablespoon sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

Vinaigrette
¼ cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Lime Sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crush red pepper (optional)

1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 head of leaf lettuce, separated into leaves
2  medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

Cooking oil for frying

Other additions include: hard boil eggs, hard boil quail eggs, slice cucumbers, watercress, and water spinach

Method:
First make the marinade by combining the ingredients in a bowl. Add the beef and stir to coat. Set aside for about 30 minutes. If longer than 30 minutes then marinate in the fridge.

Slice onions and add it to the vinaigrette. Allow that to lightly pickle for 5-10 minutes.

Make the lime sauce and set aside.

While those are going prepare the bed of lettuce on a serving platter. Add slice tomatoes and onions along with vinaigrette when ready.

Heat a pan with oil and wait until the oil starts to smoke. Add the cube marinaded beef carefully not to overcrowd them. Wait a couple of minutes for the beef to sear before you start to move them. Do the same on all sides. Pan sear them in batches if you have to. Cook the beef to your perfection. Once done transfer them on top of the vegetable platter.

Serve with lime & salt dip on the side.  This dish can be served as a salad or with some steam rice for a complete meal.

I sometime like to make lettuce wrap by taking the tender chunks of beef and wrapped in lettuce leaves then dipped in the piquant lime sauce. This requires your finger. If you don’t want to use your hands then you can chop the lettuce into bite size before making a bed.