Saturday, April 7, 2007

good evening, vietnam!

As I'm sure you've realized by now, we enjoy trying our hand at cuisine from just about anywhere in the world. Tonight, we forayed into the world of Vietnamese food. Known for intensely flavourful dishes, Vietnamese food uses fresh ingredients and quick cooking methods to put together unforgettable meals that are easy to prepare.

Tonight we tried a dish called Shaking Beef. A recipe that gets its name from the shaking action that is used to release the meat from the bottom of the pan once it's browned and slightly caramelized.

The first step is to simply marinate the meat cubes, in this case beef, in garlic, vegetable oil and salt and pepper for 1-2 hours. You can then prepare the "vinaigrette", which is a combination of fish sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and a bit of sugar.

First, sauté the meat in a bit of oil until browned on one side. Then shake the pan and flip the cubes over to brown on the other side. Add sliced onion, preferably red, and sliced scallions and cook until slightly softened. Then add the vinaigrette and reduce until it thickens slightly.

The traditional accompaniment to this dish is a dipping sauce made from the juice of one lime, with salt and pepper.

We placed this delicious mixture on a bed of shredded cabbage and carrots that were quickly sautéed in a bit of soy sauce.

Make this dish once and you will be hooked. This one will be added to our weekday repertoire due to its simplicity and quick cooking time, not to mention that it's quite healthy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just woke up in vietnam and I love what I see to eat..... Yummmy.