Vietnamese Shaking Beef - Bo Luc Lac

Sue Lau's Note:

This is a very cooling dish with lots of watercress, and makes a great appetizer or a light entree for 1 or 2.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ½ lb lean sirloin steaks , cubed
• 6 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 onion , sliced
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 dash black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups watercress leaves

Directions:

1. Mix together garlic, fish sauce, sugar, salt, and 2 teaspoons of the olive oil in a shallow dish or resealable plastic bag.
2. Add beef and allow to marinate for 30 minutes or more.
3. Mix together black pepper and vinegar and marinate onion in this mixture for 10-15 minutes.
4. Then combine onion mixture with the oil and toss.
5. Arrange watercress on a plate and spread onion on top.
6. Heat remaining oil in a pan and stir-fry marinated beef until seared to desired doneness, being careful not to overcook.
7. Spread beef over onions on watercress and serve.

Reviews

[sjvivi22]

I'm Vietnamese, and made this for my Vietnamese friends during one of our "drinking night" get togethers. Everyone LOVED it. How it is traditionally served is with a lemon pepper dip. You can use the premade one in the store. It can also be served with red rice (tomato fried rice). Two thumbs up on authenticity. :)

[Chef #1418339]

Very good recipe. But instead of fish sauce, I use low sodium soy sauce (less salty, healthier AND doesn't smell as ... fishy). Also, use butter instead of oil to fry. Om nom nom.

[buckybear206]

I took some liberties with this recipe. I used only a little watercress and added one whole thinly sliced cucumber. I also added bean thread noodles to the dish. I mixed up the whole thing with a lot of Sriracha sauce. I liked the dish, but thought it lacked a little flavor. Next time (and there will be a next time), I plan to use more fish sauce and more salt.