Bò Lúc Lắc - Shaken Beef Salad

Bò Lúc Lắc literally translate to shaken beef.  Normally, the beef are cut into cubes pieces so when you cook it, it is still rare/medium rare in the middle.  The method I prefer is to do thin slices so when I marinade it, the flavors will come through.  You don't have to get a expensive cut of beef to make this dish.  I suggest a London broil because usually it a single muscle.  In order to achieve a very thin slice, you need a very sharp knife and the beef to be frozen enough where it is stiff yet pliable.

You can substitute the watercress with a lettuce.

1/2 lb beef, sliced thinly
3-5 cloves garlic, finely minced, divided
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 small or 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup white mushrooms, optional

1 large ripe tomato, vine ripen preferred
1/2 cucumber sliced in rounds or half rounds
1 pkg watercress or head lettuce of your choice (not romaine) or 1 prepackage bag of salad mix


3 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp neutral oil, like canola
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp of sugar
1-2 tsp lime juice


Marinade the thinly sliced beef with oyster sauce and half the minced garlic.  Set aside for about 15 minutes.  Heat up a pan with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Drop in the garlic, onions, and mushroom.  Sautee until the mushroom takes on color.  Add the beef and cook as long enough to your liking.

Prepare the salad and arrange on the plate.  Mix the vinaigrette and drizzle over the salad. Toss the warm beef mixture on top.

Sườn Bò Nướng Tẩm Gia Vị Hàn Quốc - Korean Galbi - 갈비

My version of the Korean galbi

Galbi served with Boston leaf lettuce, shiso leaf, pickled carrots and ssamjang.

Difficulty: Medium

The LA style of the beef ribs were on sale and I was inspired to make some Korean galbi for my family.  I don't cook Korean food or even eat it often, but  I had fond memories of sitting around the table eating Korean food on a Friday at an office I use to work at.

I usually get my marinade from a bottle because I wasn't very familiar with the flavors components to come up with a marinade myself. This time I wasn't going to pay $5.00+ for a bottle.  So I went to ol' Maagchi's webpage to get some inspiration.  I am looking at the recipe and thought that there is no way I was going to pay $3.00+ for an Asian pear for this recipe!!!  We are on a budget.  So I pondered for a few moments and I know that the majority of the marinade is a soy sauce base and every Korean swears on sesame oil.  So this is the marinade I came up with from all the ingredients that came from my kitchen.  I personally like the flavors better than any Korean restaurant I have been too.  I hope you enjoy.

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1 tsp sesame oil

1 inch nub ginger root

2 stalks green onion, white parts only, smashed with the side of your knife

4-5 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup organic apple juice
1/2 small organic apple, peels and cored

Ssamjang paste

3-3.5 lbs of beef ribs

Take all your solid ingredients and placed them into a mini chopper and chop until you have a paste.  Add all your liquid ingredients and set aside.  If you don't have a chopper, smash everything together in a mortar and pestle or smash everything with the side of your knife and rock the knife over it and scrap them over your cutting board to make a paste.

Wash you beef ribs well by scrapping the exposed parts of the bones with your knife to remove any bone fragments.  Also remove the membrane from the underside of the bones.  Afterwards, rinse several times to ensure that it is well cleaned and allow for it to sit in a strainer or colander to remove any excess water.

In a large zip top bag, place the well drained ribs in with the marinade.  Let it sit for at least 4 hrs, preferably overnight.  Take the ribs out of the fridge for at least 30 mins before grilling.

When grilling you want the grill very hot.  Depending on the thickness, you will be aiming between 3-7 mins total.  Look for shrinkage around the bones and also the meat will bounce back a little when you press on it.

I like to eat mine wrapped in lettuce with pickled daikon and carrots with some fresh cucumber slices.  You can use the Korean soybean paste with the hot pepper paste as a condiment for this dish.  I prefer the Vietnamese nuoc cham.

soybean paste

Hot pepper paste

Bò Kho - Vietnamese Beef Stew

Bo Kho is great with a French bread

Bo kho is a beef stew made in Vietnam.  This dish has a heavy French influence.  If you were to look at the recipe for boeuf Bourguignon,  you would definitely see the similarities.  The red color comes from the spice blend that mimics the color from the red wine.

This is one of my husband's favorite dishes.  He loves how his mother makes this dish.  Below is the Vietnamese bo kho, but I prefer adding the pearl onions and root vegetables favoring the French influence of my mother's side of the family.

2-3 lbs of beef chuck cut in 1 inch cubes or buy the stew beef

2 beef tendon (optional)

1 lbs organic carrots
2 lbs sweet potatoes or a pound each of sweet and regular potatoes

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 stalks of lemongrass (white parts only, minced and halved)

1 pkg beef stew seasoning from Asian market (blend of paprika, anise, garlic, chili, ginger, onion and cloves)

.5 tsp Madras curry powder

2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 diced fresh organic tomatoes or 1 standard can of diced tomatoes or 1 Tbsp of paste

Water or broth (chicken or beef)
Thai Basil

Optional veggies:

Frozen peas

Pearl Onions

Daikon

Mushrooms

Cut the beef if you didn't buy it that way.  In a deep bowl, add the beef with the beef stew seasoning package, garlic (setting aside about one clove) , fish sauce, half the lemongrass, and curry powder.  Set aside for at least 30 mins.  

Prepare the veggies by cutting them into large 1-inch segments or cubes.  If you plan on using the beef tendon, clean the tendon and boil them until it is soft all the way through. In a medium stock pot, heat up some oil, and sauteed the garlic and lemongrass, until fragrant.  Add the marinaded beef. Stir until there is a little color on the meat then add your water or broth and tomatoes.  Reduce heat and cover at medium heat for about 15 mins.  Add the tendon and veggies.  Cook for another 30 mins or until the veggies are tender. Add frozen peas and pearl onions at the end. Season with fish sauce to your taste.  Chop some Thai basil to finish.

You can enjoy this dish with pho noodles or a nice crusty loaf of French bread.  

Stir-fried basics

Chicken and organic zucchini served with rice and beans

What can be more perfect than a stir-fried dish.  It is almost a full meal all in one pan.  If you take the time to prepare, it can freeze nicely and be heated up in a pinch.  Like most Asian meals, rice is served with stir fries.  Add a clear soup and it is a very healthy and hydrating meal.  Here is the components of a basic stir-fry.  You can build on these stir-fries once you start to understand what taste best for you and your family.  Here is the parts that go into a stir-fry:

-1/2 lb any meat of your choice
-selection of vegetables that compliments well with your meat choice
-1/2 sliced onion into small wedges
-Fish sauce or soy sauce to taste (depending if you prefer Viet or Chinese food)
-1 tsp of oyster sauce
-2 cloves garlic, mince and halved
-1 tsp shallot
- pinch of salt
- black pepper

 For the meat, you want to freeze the meat until it is stiff but still pliable.  It allows you to cut the meat very thinly, across the grain.  Crush and mince one clove of garlic and mix with shallot into the meat to marinade the meat.  Let sit for a few minutes.  If you want to use beef, the Chinese restaurants use a cornstarch slurry to tenderize their beef.  I learned this technique from a former friend in college from Hong Kong.  You would let the meat and mixture sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking it.

You should cut your vegetables into small bite size pieces.  It aids in the cooking process and the same time trick your mind into thinking your are eating more.  If you plan to freeze your stir-fry, always blanch your veggies to keep them crispy and crunchy. (I strongly believe that texture saves colons.)  Blanching is an option when eating immediately.  Have everything near by when you are ready to cook.

In a very hot pan or wok, add a little oil.  When you see the oil smoke a little take the pan/wok off the heat and add the half of the garlic to the pan and swirl the oil around, making sure that the garlic doesn't burn.  If it does, snoop out the garlic, then add the shallots and stir.  Add the meat mixture.  Quicky cook the meat with a pinch of salt to remove any moisture from the meat.  If you are using veggies that take a while to cook, removing your proteins, like beef and shrimp, so that it doesn't overcook.  Add the fish sauce and oyster sauce.  Add your sliced onion and allow them to soften a little before adding your vegetables.  Stir and mix well. Top off with the black pepper. Taste and adjust to your liking.  If you want it a tad bit more sweeter, add a pinch of sugar at a time and taste until it is to your liking.

Vegetables good with beef and pork:  broccoli, snap peas, green beans, kai lan, bok choy, asparagus

Vegetables good with chicken: zucchini, crook neck yellow squash, kai lan

One breast

makes for a lot of food

chicken sliced thinly

this is what was remaining after I made two plate

Crock-pot Phở

Difficulty: Medium

Pho, a Vietnamese beef noodle soup.  It costed about $15.00 to make and it made about 8 bowls, so it last the whole day.  Each bowls averages out to $1.88 a bowl.  I used oxtail for my recipe.  It is a lot more expensive to use oxtail but for the amount of beef flavor, it is worth the extra money.  If you don't want to spend the money, get soup bones that has the marrow exposed.  I like to buy the bones from the local ethnic stores, but a lot of the chains are carrying them, depending on the neighborhood.  The great thing about the ethnic stores is how they cut the bones, especially the oxtail.  My local Publix cuts the oxtail at the joints, while the Chinese and Latino markets will cut the pieces in between the joints to expose more of the bone.  Plus, it is cheaper to buy them from the ethnic markets.

Fast and cheap pho
Broth/stock:
1 lb of oxtail or 2 lbs of soup bones
4 qts water
8 points star anise
1 cinnamon sticks
1 black cardamom pod
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cloves
1 golf ball size piece of yellow rock sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 whole medium onion
1 carrot (optional)
2 celery stalks (optional)

Bowls:
2 package of medium size banh pho noodles or pad thai noodles
1/2 pound of London broil, par-frozen and cut thinly
1 bunch of green scallions/spring onions
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 cup of Thai basil optional
Culantro optional
1 lime
6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp of neutral oil like canola
Hoisin


To make the broth:
Start up the large crock-pot add the 4 quarts of water.  While you are doing that, start up another pot and parboil the bones.  Parboiling the bones will help remove the scum so that you will have a nice clear broth.
While waiting for the bones, stick a couple of toothpicks into the half onion and over a hot dry pan, brown the onion's cut end and toast the cinnamon sticks, and star anise. Place the spices into a teaball or cheesecloth and toss into the crockpot with the browned half onion.  When the bones get a good boil on it, dump the contents out and wash the bones very well in cold water.  Make sure to rub the bones to get off any impurities. After you cleaned the bones, place them into the crock-pot and simmer on high for 4-6 hours. (High setting on crock-pot if you are planning to make pho for breakfast.)

About an hour before eating, place the package of dry noodles into a large bowl or container.  Pour boiling water over the noodles and allow it to sit for about 5-7 minutes. The noodles will cook itself. Dump out any remaining water so the noodles doesn't get soggy.  Prepare to slice the London broil into paper thin slices.  It is easier to slice it if the meat is still semi frozen or is stiff because isn't moving around.  You want it as thin as possible.  Set aside.

Whack the garlic with the side of your knife to take off the paper on the garlic and roughly chop the garlic. Heat up a small pot with the oil and drop the garlic in, stirring it until the garlic is golden brown. Remove from heat. Cut up the onions and cilantro. Wash the Thai basil and culantro well. Cut the limes in half, at the equator and quarter each half.

To prep the bowls: in a large bowl, place about 1 cup of noodles in with a few slices of London broil to cover up the noodles. Add the scallions, cilantro, a squeeze in a wedge of lime and spoon some fried garlic in the bowl.  Ladle the piping hot broth over the noodles.  You may need some hoisin if you are using the soup bones. Tear some basil and culantro in, if you desire.

If you don't plan to eat pho all day, you can freeze half the broth.  It freezes well.