Lomo Saltado
Lomo Saltado, also known as Peruvian Beef Stir Fry, is a beautiful mash-up of Chinese and Peruvian cuisine. Tender beef stir-fried with vegetables and tossed in an Asian-y sauce. It's delicious served with garlic rice and fried potatoes!
Are you familiar with Chifa cuisine? Chinese immigrants came to Peru at the turn of the 19th to 20th century and settled in Lima, the capital. As most immigrant cultures do, the Chinese adapted their dishes to the ingredients available in their new home.
A typical Chinese stir-fry includes vegetables such as bok choy, Chinese broccoli, snow peas, Chinese longbeans, mushrooms, and aromatics like garlic and ginger. But in a lomo saltado, the veggies reflect those found in Latin America, like tomatoes, yellow peppers, and potatoes.
The cooking technique is stir-frying, which originated in China. Meat and vegetables are chopped into small uniform pieces and quickly fried in a wok by tossing in hot oil. In Spanish, the term is saltado, which means jump or toss. And lomo? It means loin.
So, lomo saltado translates to tossed beef loin. An apt description for this lovely stir fry! And are you wondering about the double serving of carbs? A traditional lomo saltado is served with rice (Chinese) and fried potatoes (Peruvian). I think it makes for a delicious combo.
Why not serve it with a Peruvian-style drinkie? Try my Pisco Sour mocktail!
I was inspired to put together this dish and mocktail after viewing a Peruvian film, Mistura. It is a wonderful film that explores Peru's diverse cultural and culinary history set against the backdrop of 1960s Lima. Read more about it in my newsletter post.
Lessons Learned
- I cheated and used frozen French fries as a time saver, but you can absolutely cut and fry potatoes by hand if you wish.
- A trick to slicing the beef thinly is to wrap it in plastic and stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes to make it slightly firmer. It makes it easier to cut thin slices!
- Traditional lomo saltado recipes use a bottled oyster sauce. I am not a fan of bottled oyster sauce, so I've adapted and made my own sauce here. But use whatever you want; you're an adult.
Hat Tips
Many thanks to Serious Eats and their very detailed description of making lomo saltado and to Cooking for My Soul for their recipe inspo.
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Lomo Saltado
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
Garlic Rice:
- 1 ½ cups long-grain or jasmine rice
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups water
French Fries:
- 1 pound frozen French fries
Stir Fry:
- 1 pound petite sirloin steak or other tender beef steak
- Salt and pepper
- ½ onion, red or white
- ½ red bell pepper
- 1 large or 2 small tomatoes
- 1 yellow mild or spicy pepper (I used yellow wax pepper)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
Sauce:
- 4 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- Garnish: chopped green onions
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Instructions
- Make the garlic rice by first rinsing the rice in a fine mesh strainer to rid it of extra starch. Let drain in the sink. Add the olive oil to a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute to soften and get fragrant.
- Prepare the French fries according to package directions. Depending on how you prepare them, it can take up to 30 minutes so it's best to get that going before you start the stir fry.
- Pour in the rinsed rice and sauté for 1 minute, coating the rice with the oil. Tip in the water and stir. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Be sure to occasionally stir to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and keep covered.
- Slice the steak against the grain into thin, bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. Slice the onion, red bell pepper, tomatoes, and yellow pepper into chunks of uniform size, around 1 ½ inches. Mince the garlic.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot and shimmery, add the steak pieces and sear on both sides until browned. The steak will still be pink in the middle. Transfer the seared steak to a plate and cover.
- Add the veggies (not the garlic) to the skillet and let cook without disturbing for 3 or 4 minutes or until browned but still crisp tender. Give the veggies a stir and add the garlic. Stir all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, then add it to the skillet. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer and the sauce will thicken just slightly. Add the steak pieces along with any accumulated juices back to the pan. Toss everything together and remove from the heat.
- Serve the lomo saltado by placing some rice, French fries, and stir fry on each plate. Or let peeps make their own plate! Garnish with green onions.
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