Lomo Saltado is a Peruvian dish but it has Chinese origins, because there are a lot of Chinese immigrants in Peru apparently. When I saw the name go by in a twitter conversation, it was just someone mentioning eating (and enjoying) it in a Peruvian restaurant, but I had no idea what to expect. Wikipedia describes it as "a popular, traditional Peruvian dish, a stir fry that typically combines marinated strips of sirloin with onions, tomatoes, french fries, and other ingredients, and is typically served with rice". Putting rice and chips still seems weird to me, even after eating it, but it was delicious. Next time, I think I'd go with either chips or rice rather than both though.
Lomo Saltado
ingredients :
a drizzle of olive oil
600g beef/steak, cut into strips
3 onions
1 clove of garlic
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
2tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp vinegar (I used balsamic)
salt, pepper
Peruvian chilli paste (optional)
Basmati rice
chips
Put the chips and rice on to cook. Heat the oil and fry the beef.
When it's gone brown and the cooking juices have mainly evaporated, toss in the onions and garlic. Stir fry until they have gone soft and started to caramelise. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the soy sauce and vinegar, then the tomatoes. Cook for just a couple more minutes - you want the tomatoes to stay quite firm.
You can add a small spoonful of chilli paste if you like - I had a jar of Peruvian chilli paste lurking in the fridge which was perfect.
You can mix the cooked chips in with the beef before serving it over rice, or serve them on the side, which is what I decided to do so that they retained their crispiness. The whole family made appreciative noises and I was apparently the only one who had the slightest qualms about having rice and chips on the same plate. It actually reminded me of school dinners when the dinner ladies would say "chips, rice or half and half?", which was a memory I'd totally forgotten !
*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***
Fancy trying some more Peruvian dishes? How about :
What an interesting idea to serve the beef with both fries and rice, don't think I had them together on one plate. That's another recipe which I haven't heard of. Love your Wikipedia snippets too. :)
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's the mix of Chinese (rice) and Peruvian (fried potatoes) influences, giving everyone the best of both worlds ! Strange idea though !!
Delete