Peruvian Lomo Saltado
Lomo saltado is strips of beef tossed over very high heat with onion, tomato, soy sauce and vinegar, then mixed with fried potatoes and served with rice.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Calories
- 520
Photo: WikiHes — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
This dish is proof that Peruvian cooking is not only Peruvian — the wok and the soy sauce arrived with Chinese migrants in the nineteenth century and married into Peru's yellow chilli and potatoes. The result takes six minutes on the highest heat you have. Crowding the pan is the only enemy: put all the beef in at once and it releases its water and stews, and the whole dish rests on that fast sear.
Method
-
1
Getting ready
Have everything cut and within reach of the hob before you light it. The cooking itself is six minutes and there is no time to chop.
-
2
The potatoes
Fry the chips until crisp and keep them hot. They go in at the end and soak up the sauce.
-
3
The beef
Heat the pan until it smokes and sear the beef in two batches, a minute and a half each, then lift it out.
-
4
The vegetables
In the same pan toss the onion, garlic and chilli for two minutes, then add the tomato for one. They need to keep some bite.
-
5
Bringing it together
Return the beef, pour in the soy and vinegar, and toss for 30 seconds only. Scrape the base — all the flavour is there.
-
6
Serving
Off the heat, fold through the chips and coriander and serve at once with white rice.
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Tips that actually matter
- The pan has to be smoking before the beef goes in. Anything less stews rather than sears.
- The chips go in at the last moment. Left sitting in the sauce they soften and lose their crispness.
- If you cannot find Peruvian yellow chilli, a green chilli with a pinch of paprika is a reasonable stand-in.
People also ask
Why did my beef release water?
The pan was not hot enough, or you put all the beef in at once. Fierce heat and small batches are the answer.
Can I use oven chips?
You can, but fried ones give the crispness that stands up to the sauce. Oven chips soften faster.
Can I make it with chicken?
You can, and it is called pollo saltado. Exactly the same method.
Cook mode
Peruvian Lomo Saltado
-
1
Getting ready
Have everything cut and within reach of the hob before you light it. The cooking itself is six minutes and there is no time to chop.
-
2
The potatoes
Fry the chips until crisp and keep them hot. They go in at the end and soak up the sauce.
-
3
The beef
Heat the pan until it smokes and sear the beef in two batches, a minute and a half each, then lift it out.
-
4
The vegetables
In the same pan toss the onion, garlic and chilli for two minutes, then add the tomato for one. They need to keep some bite.
-
5
Bringing it together
Return the beef, pour in the soy and vinegar, and toss for 30 seconds only. Scrape the base — all the flavour is there.
-
6
Serving
Off the heat, fold through the chips and coriander and serve at once with white rice.
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