Vietnamese Shaking Beef

Bo luc lac, or shaking beef, is a yummy and simple Vietnamese dish. Cubes of marinated steak are shaken while cooked, which is where the name comes from. It's served on a bed of watercress, tomatoes, and pickled red onions with a sour vinaigrette. The recipe I used here is adapted from The Ravenous Couple food blog: http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2009/08/bo-luc-lac-vietnamese-shaking-beef.html

Ingredients:
Beef Marinade
1.5 lbs beef sirloin cut into 1″ cubes
1 tbs minced garlic
1.5 tbs sugar
2 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1.5 tbs sugar
1/2 tbs salt

Dipping Sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 ts kosher salt
1/2 ts fresh cracked pepper

1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 bunches of watercress, long stems trimmed
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

Cooking oil for frying

Directions:
Prepare marinade by combining garlic, oyster sauce, sugar, fish sauce, thick soy sauce and sesame oil with the beef for at least half an hour, preferably 1-2 hrs.
Prepare vinaigrette by mixing rice vinegar with salt and sugar. It should be a balance of sour, salty and sweet.

Thinly slice the red onion and use about 3-4 tbs of the vinaigrette to pickle and set aside covered in fridge for about 10 minutes. Prepare bed of watercress and tomatoes in a serving platter and set aside.

Heat a large wok or pan over high heat. Add about 2 tbs cooking oil and when it begins to smoke, add an even layer of beef and allow to sear for about 2 minutes, before “shaking” to sear the opposite sides for about another 1-2 minute more to brown all the sides. Do not overcook! The goal is medium-rare. If overcooked, the meat will be tough and not very good. Do this in batches to cook all the beef if necessary.

Transfer beef to bed of watercress and tomatoes. Drizzle another 3-4 tbs of vinaigrette over the beef and greens and top with pickled red onions. Lastly, squeeze lime juice over salt and pepper in a small ramekin.

Serve with rice and enjoy!