Peruvian Lomo Saltado
Back in 2015 I (Claudia) had big plans to backpack through South America with my best friend. Things took a crazy turn when I met Kaan and the situation got really complicated. We were madly in love and I was torn between the trip I had planned for so long and wanting to stay back home to spend every waking moment with him. After much deliberation, we came to an agreement and I ended up going on my trip, albeit it was much shorter than originally planned. It was difficult for both of us to say the least, so much that Kaan booked a trip to come visit me within hours of my departure!
Anyways, back to Peru. Peru was hands down one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever travelled to - the landscapes, the people, the history… and most importantly, the FOOD! It was during our trip to Peru where we discovered one of our favourite dishes EVER - Lomo Saltado! Seriously guys, we’ve literally been cooking this dish like once a week since we discovered it almost 5 years ago, and it’s sooo easy to make!
To give you a brief background, when Chinese immigrants arrived in Peru more than a century ago, they brought their cooking with them, and it didn't take long for a new, hybrid Chinese-Peruvian cuisine, called chifa, to emerge. Lomo Saltado, dish comprised of stir-fried beef with tomatoes, onion, and French fries in a savory brown sauce is one of the most famous of the chifa tradition, cooked throughout Peru and around the world today.
We like to serve this dish with a side of steamed rice, but it’s also great with some Tacu Tacu or on top of a green salad. And if you don’t eat beef — fear not — you can make Camarones Saltados, or shrimp stir-fry. Vegans/Veggies can use portobello mushrooms or sliced apples instead of beef and it turns out just as good!
PERUVIAN LOMO SALTADO
Ingredients
The Stir-fry
½ lb. beef || Vegan: Portobello Mushroom Slices
½ red onion
1 tomato
1 lime
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 clove of garlic
1 small piece of ginger
1 bag of frozen French fries (the shoe-string kind works the best!)
A handful of green onion and cilantro for garnish
The Sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon aji amarillo paste (we skip this as it’s normally quite difficult to find, although it significantly enhances the taste of the dish!)
6 teaspoons white wine vinegar
3 teaspoons oyster sauce || Vegan: Mushroom Soy Sauce/Hoisin Sauce
Instructions
Preheat the oven and bake your fries according to the instructions on the package.
While the fries are baking, mince the garlic and ginger. Peel the red onion, cut it in half, and cut each half into quarters. Separate the onion layers from one another so that the slices are thin and moon-shaped wedges.
Slice the tomato into six wedges.
Chop the cilantro and cut the green onion into rings, set aside for garnish. Cut the lime into wedges and set aside for garnish as well.
Put your rice into a pot and boil the rice according to package directions.
In a small bowl, prepare the sauce by mixing together the soya sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, and aji amarillo.
Cut the beef into medium size strips.
Once the fries are done, remove from the oven. If they are not done yet, continue with the next step.
Heat canola or vegetable oil in a skillet over medium to high heat.
Add the onions and fry until they are translucent.
Season the beef strips with salt and stir-fry the beef in the skillet.
After 1 minute, add the garlic and ginger.
After 30 seconds, add the tomatoes. After another 30 seconds, add the fries from the oven and the prepared sauce, and stir for around 1 minute.
Turn off the heat and mix in the cilantro and green onion.
Serve immediately with your rice on the side and squeeze lime juice over the dish.
Servings
2 Servings
Notes
After you are done the prep work, most of this dish cooks very quickly! Once the onions and beef have had time to cook, you add the ingredients very quickly to the skillet. The timings don’t have to be exact- these are just an estimate. You do not want the whole dish to be too soggy and falling apart so only add the fries and sauce at the very end. Hope you all enjoy this as much as we do!