Lomo saltado

Ingredients

Beef

• 600 gbeef sirloin or tenderloin (lomo fino), cut into strips 1.5 cm thick
• 3 tbsplight soy sauce (sillao)
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspcoarsely ground black pepper

Stir-fry

• 2red onions, cut into thick 1.5 cm wedges
• 3plum tomatoes, deseeded and cut into 8 wedges
• 1ají amarillo, deseeded and sliced into strips
• 3garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tbspvegetable oil
• 2 tbspred wine vinegar
• 1 tbspsoy sauce, extra
• 1small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

To serve

• 600 gfloury potatoes, cut into thick chips
• 1 litreoil, for frying
• 400 gsteamed white rice

Directions

1. Fry the chips twice: 6 minutes at 150°C (300°F), drain and rest, then 3 minutes at 190°C (375°F) until crisp and deep gold. Salt them and keep them hot.
2. Pat the beef completely dry, toss it with the cumin, pepper and 1 tbsp of the soy sauce, and leave 10 minutes.
3. Heat a wok or the heaviest pan you own until it is smoking. Sear the beef in two batches, 60–90 seconds each, without moving it, so it takes a deep brown crust and stays rare inside. Lift it out.
4. Add the oil, then the onion wedges. Toss 60 seconds: they should char at the edges and stay crunchy in the middle, never soften.
5. Add the garlic and ají amarillo for 20 seconds, then the tomato wedges for 30 seconds, just to warm through without collapsing.
6. Return the beef, then pour the vinegar and remaining soy down the hot sides of the pan so they flash to steam. Toss twice. Over a gas flame, tip the pan and let it flame.
7. Take it off the heat and fold through the coriander. The pan sauce should be a few tablespoons, dark and glossy, not a gravy.
8. Serve at once: half the chips tossed into the pan so they soak up the sauce, half on the side crisp, with a mound of white rice.

Technique

• This is a chifa dish, Cantonese wok technique applied to Peruvian ingredients by the Chinese labourers who arrived from the 1850s. Everything depends on wok hei: ferocious heat, small batches, seconds rather than minutes.
• If the vegetables steam instead of charring, the pan is too cool or too crowded. Cook in two batches rather than compromise.
• Rice and chips on the same plate is not excess, it is the definition of the dish. The rice soaks the sauce, the chips carry the char.

Substitutions

• No ají amarillo: a strip of red pepper for texture plus 1 tsp ají amarillo paste for flavour. Fiery chilli is not what the dish is after.
• No sirloin: skirt or flank, sliced thinner across the grain, seared even faster.

Variations

• Pollo saltado, the same treatment with chicken thigh strips.
• Tallarín saltado, built on noodles instead of chips.
• Saltado de corazón, with marinated beef heart, and saltado de mariscos with seafood.

History

Born of Chinese immigration to Lima after 1849; beef is stir-fried in a wok with soy, onion and tomato and served with chips and rice.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lomo saltado?

Lomo saltado is a main from Peru: wok-seared beef, onions and tomatoes over fries and rice. Born of Chinese immigration to Lima after 1849; beef is stir-fried in a wok with soy, onion and tomato and served with chips and rice.

How long does Lomo saltado take to make?

Lomo saltado takes 20 min of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Lomo saltado?

Yes, within limits. No ají amarillo: a strip of red pepper for texture plus 1 tsp ají amarillo paste for flavour. Fiery chilli is not what the dish is after. No sirloin: skirt or flank, sliced thinner across the grain, seared even faster.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lomo saltado?

Add the oil, then the onion wedges. Toss 60 seconds: they should char at the edges and stay crunchy in the middle, never soften.