Lomo Saltado: Peruvian Chifa Stir-Fry

Name: Lomo Saltado: Peruvian Chifa Stir-Fry
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: South American
Ingredients: 600 g beef fillet or rump, in thick strips; 2 red onions in wide wedges; 3 tomatoes in wedges, deseeded; 1 ají amarillo in strips (or 1/2 yellow pepper with a touch of heat); 3 garlic cloves, chopped; 3 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp red wine vinegar; 1 tbsp sesame oil (optional); Sunflower oil; Salt and pepper; 4 medium potatoes, for frying; Fresh coriander, chopped; White rice, to serve

⏱ 40 min in total🔪 25 min prep🍳 15 min cooking🍽 4 portiesMediumAndean

A Peruvian stir-fry with soy sauce, a wok and chips in the middle of the plate. The combination is no whim: it comes from chifa, the cuisine born of Cantonese immigration to Peru in the nineteenth century and unquestionably Peruvian today. It takes fifteen minutes on high heat, so everything has to be cut before the stove goes on.

🔎 What is ají amarillo? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.

Ingredients

Measurements

🍽 4 servings

600 g beef fillet or rump, in thick strips
2 red onions in wide wedges
3 tomatoes in wedges, deseeded
1 ají amarillo in strips (or 1/2 yellow pepper with a touch of heat)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil (optional)
Sunflower oil
Salt and pepper
4 medium potatoes, for frying
Fresh coriander, chopped
White rice, to serve

Method

1
Cut the potatoes into chips and fry them golden. Drain on paper and salt them. They go first because later there is no time: the stir-fry takes four minutes.
2
Dry the beef thoroughly and season it. Wet meat does not sear, it boils, and lomo saltado depends on that sear.
3
Heat a large pan or wok until it smokes. With less heat the meat releases juice and the whole thing becomes a stew.
4
Sear the beef in two batches, a minute each, without stirring much. Take it out and set aside: it finishes cooking at the end.
5
In the same pan, stir-fry the onion for 1 minute — it should stay firm, not translucent — then add the garlic and the ají amarillo and cook 30 seconds more.
6
Pour in the soy sauce and the vinegar and let them reduce for a few seconds, scraping the base of the pan. All the flavour is stuck there.
7
Add the tomato and toss for 1 minute: it should heat through without collapsing.
8
Return the meat with its juices, mix for 30 seconds and turn off the heat.
9
Fold the chips in only at the very end and off the heat. Added earlier they go soft, and the contrast between crisp potato and sauce is the whole dish.
10
Finish with coriander and serve with white rice alongside.