Recipe
Beef Lok Lak (recipe)
Beef tenderloin marinated in palm sugar, oyster and soy sauces, seared with garlic and served with a Kampot pepper, salt and lime dip.
This beef lok lak recipe by Chef Nak pairs seared cubes of beef tenderloin with fresh vegetables, fried eggs and a lime and Kampot pepper dip.[1] It appears in Chef Nak's cookbook NHUM: Recipes from a Cambodian Home Kitchen. The dish is also known as lok lak sach ko. Chef Nak presents it as a Cambodian dish with French influence, finished in the traditional way with a sunny-side-up egg and eaten with steamed rice.[1]
Ingredients
- 1 kg beef tenderloin
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1.5 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
- 500 g lettuce
- 400 g ripe tomatoes
- 200 g onion
- 4 eggs
- 1.5 tbsp sea salt, for the dip
- 1 tbsp Kampot pepper
- 5 tbsp lime juice
Method
- The eggs are fried sunny side up and set aside.
- The garlic is chopped fine, the lettuce is washed and drained, and the onion and tomatoes are sliced thin.
- The beef is cut into cubes of 2 to 3 cm (about 1 in) and marinated with the palm sugar, salt, cooking wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.
- The garlic is lightly browned in hot oil in a frying pan over high heat. The beef goes in with its marinade and cooks for five to seven minutes.
- The Kampot peppercorns are dry-roasted for two to three minutes, then ground.
- The ground pepper is stirred with the sea salt and lime juice to make the dipping sauce.
- Lettuce, tomato and onion are layered on a serving plate and topped with the beef and eggs. The dish is served with the dip and steamed rice.
Chef Nak advises searing the beef hot and fast to keep it tender and juicy. The recipe takes about 20 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.[1]