Bo Luc Lac (Seared Garlic Beef Dipped in Lime Juice)

This recipe comes from Ghillie Basan’s The Complete Vietnamese Cookbook, which is a decent source of both Vietnamese and Cambodian cuisine, with a long and interesting introduction on Indochinese food cultures.

Bo luc lac is easy to make. Aside from needing to marinate the beef for 1-2 hours, the preparation time is only about 15-20 minutes.

Main Ingredients
12 oz. beef fillet or sirloin, cut into bite-size chunks
1 tablespoon sugar
Juice from 3 limes
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper
2 or 3 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped
12 lettuce leaves

Marinade Ingredients
1 tablespoon peanut oil
5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. Start by making the marinade by: in a bowl, beat together the peanut oil, soy sauce, and sugar. When the sugar has dissolved, mix in the garlic and black pepper. Add the beef and slather it with the marinade. Leave it for 1 to 2 hours.

2. In a bowl, stir together the sugar and lime juice. When the sugar has dissolved, add the garlic and black pepper and beat well. Stir in the chopped peanuts and set aside.

3. Heat a wok or heavy pan and sear the meat on all sides. (You can also chargrill the beef.) Serve immediately with lettuce leaves for wrapping and the lime sauce for dipping. Another good dipping sauce, if you prefer the saltiness of fish sauce to the tang of this much lime juice, is nuoc mam.