Peruvian Lomo Saltado: A Mixture of Cultures and Flavors {Recipe}

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Chances are that if you’ve ever had the good fortune to eat Peruvian food, you’ve had a scrumptious plate of lomo saltado!

One of the most popular Peruvian dishes – after ceviche, of course – lomo saltado is super easy to make and it virtually takes no time. Growing up, I was lucky to eat this at least once a week. My dad’s lomo saltado was by far my favorite.

Most of you know I’m not a huge cook, but I do know how to make some basic, classic Peruvian dishes. Lomo saltado is one of them. (The other one is arroz con pollo – which I promise I’ll share here soon.)

Some people say lomo saltado is not really a Peruvian dish, but it’s actually a prime example of what the cuisine from my country is all about: an ingenious blend of old and new flavors from four continents. The stir-fry concept is undoubtedly Asian, but the ají amarillo and the french fries made with papas amarillas give it the millenary Peruvian flavor.

This recipe is my contribution to our monthly Mizkan Cooking Challenge for September in which the six blogueras participating had to come up with a Receta de mi País recipe using one the many Holland House vinegars as an ingredient.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of beef tenderloin or beef for stir-frying
• 3 roma tomatoes
• 1 big red onions (make sure they’re red!)
• 1 lb. russet potatoes
• Peruvian hot peppers (otherwise known as ají amarillo. You should be able to find this at a Latin supermarket. If you can’t find the actual ají, you can substitute with ají amarillo sauce like the one I used for this recipe.)
• freshly chopped cilantro (to taste)
• 3 tbsps of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Holland House red wine vinegar
• Canola or vegetable oil for frying

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 Directions:

1) Slice the red onions, tomatoes, potatoes, meat and ají amarillo (if you can get it) lengthwise. Make sure you prep all this ingredients before you start cooking because it all needs to happen very quickly and at high temperatures.

2) Deep fry the potato slices by using enough oil to cover them. Beware, they take a little time, so do this before you start with the rest of the ingredients.

3) Put oil on a wok and stir-fry the beef strips at high until brown. You can add pepper to the beef at this point.

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4) (Here’s where my recipe differs from other lomo saltado recipes.) Remove the beef strips and stir fry the garlic and onions. Add the vinegar and soy sauce. At this point, thrown in the slices of ají amarillo, if you have it. When onions are cooked but still crunchy, add the tomatoes. 

5) Stir and put the beef strips back in the wok. Add the cilantro and the ají amarillo sauce, if that’s what you’re using.

{© SpanglishBaby Media}

6) Carefully stir all ingredients and add the french fries. (Some people like to put them on the side. I like the potatoes to soak up the juices in the wok). Remove wok from heat.

7) Serve immediately with white rice, the Peruvian staple.

To find out what delicious Recetas de Mi País the other five blogueras in the challenge cooked, just click on the badges below.

Disclosure:  This recipe and post were made possible thanks to the sponsorship from Mizkan Americas.