Lomo Saltado

Beef and onion seared in a screaming pan with the chips fried separately and tossed in off the heat.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

For the stir-fry

• 600 g beef sirloin, in thick strips
• 2 red onions, in thick wedges
• 3 tomatoes, in thick wedges
• 1 ají amarillo, in strips, or 1 teaspoon ají amarillo paste, as on its own page
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• a handful of coriander, chopped
• salt and black pepper

For the chips

• 700 g floury potatoes
• oil for frying
• salt

To serve

• steamed white rice

Method

1. THE CHIPS ARE FRIED SEPARATELY AND TOSSED IN OFF THE HEAT. Properly fried chips, drained and salted, and then folded through the pan in the last few seconds with the burner already off. Cooked in the sauce -- which is what happens if they go in while anything is still bubbling -- they absorb it, go limp, and the dish becomes beef and soggy potato. Added at the very end they keep their crust long enough to reach the table, which is the whole point of a dish that puts chips in a stir-fry.
2. AND THE RICE GOES ALONGSIDE AS WELL, which looks like a mistake written down and is not: this is a plate of beef, chips AND rice, and it is meant to be.
3. THE PAN MUST BE SCREAMING AND THE BEEF GOES IN DRY AND IN BATCHES. Two batches at most. The beef should sear and colour in ninety seconds; crowded, it releases water, the temperature collapses and it stews grey. Pat it dry and salt it as it goes in, not before.
4. THE ONION AND TOMATO ARE CUT THICK AND BARELY COOKED. Big wedges, in for a minute, so the onion is still crunchy at the core and the tomato holds its shape. Sliced thin and cooked down they collapse into a sauce, and this dish has no sauce -- just the liquid the vinegar and soy make with the pan juices.
5. THE SOY AND VINEGAR GO DOWN THE SIDE OF THE PAN, as on the not onto the food: onto hot metal, where they hiss and reduce in a second, rather than onto the food, where they would simply wet it.
6. Potatoes cut into chips, rinsed, dried, and fried twice as -- 140C until soft and pale, cooled, then 190C until gold. Drained and salted. Kept warm.
7. Rice cooked and kept warm.
8. Beef patted very dry and cut into thick strips.
9. A wok or heavy pan heated over the highest heat until it smokes. Half the oil in.
10. Half the beef in, spread out, and seared 90 SECONDS without moving, then tossed 30 seconds. Tipped out. The second batch the same.
11. The rest of the oil, then the onion wedges, 1 minute over a high heat so they char at the edges.
12. The garlic and ají in for 20 seconds.
13. The beef returned, then the tomato wedges.
14. THE SOY SAUCE AND VINEGAR POURED DOWN THE SIDE of the pan. Tossed 20 seconds. Pepper.
15. THE HEAT OFF, the chips and coriander folded through, and the whole thing served at once with the rice alongside.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Peru · All recipes