Yesterday for supper we had this really quick (10 minutes) beef dish made with lemongrass and chillies, and some seasonings. I served it with corn, and even though you could tell it's not the season yet, it still felt amazing to munch on a cob. Oh how I love you, corn.
This recipe, as with most of my Vietnamese recipes lately, was taken from this marvellous book by Luke Nguyen called "The Food of Vietnam", that I suggest to anyone who likes Vietnamese food or doesn't know anything about it (like me before my boyfriend got me the book!).
(serves 2 to 4 as a side)
-2tbsp veggie oil
-1 white part lemongrass stem, finely chopped
-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-2 red bird's eye chillies finely chopped, plus one finely sliced for presentation.
-300g lean beef finely sliced
-1tbsp fish sauce
-1tbsp soy sauce
-2tsp sugar
-15 betel leaves, roughly cut
-cilantro (or parsley) to decorate
In a really hot wok, add oil and lemongrass and stir a couple seconds. Then add chillies, garlic and beef and toss for 2-3 minutes. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and betel and toss until beef is cooked. Plate and decorate with chillies and herbs.
In the book, this beef dish was suggested to be accompanied by rice, but from what I heard Vietnamese will wrap anything in lettuce, rice sheets or baguettes so I opted for half-baguettes since I knew that way my boyfriend wouldn't pick out the betel leaves. It was a good choice since the beef was really spicy, and even though it was lemongrass and beef, which I never saw in a Banh Mi, it tasted really good and Vietnamese in the baguette. If you're Vietnamese and you think baguette was a weird choice for this beef, try it, you'll love it!
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