Beef Lok Lak – the Cambodian national dish. With recipe :-)

Beef Lok Lak is a popular dish in Cambodia. It has its origins in Vietnam. It is said that the name Lok Lak goes back to the Vietnamese bo luc lac, which means “shaking meat”. If you believe the Vietnamese, Lok Lak was brought to Cambodia a good 70 years ago during the French colonial period. However, the Cambodians swear that Lok Lak is a Cambodian dish. Regardless of its origin, trying this dish is an absolute must when you are in Cambodia! But you don’t necessarily have to travel to Cambodia to try Beef Lok Lak. In this article, I’ll show you how you can easily prepare Lok Lak at home.

Lime sauce provides the kick!

Lime sauce, which is used as a dip during the meal, provides a flavorful kick. In most restaurants, the sauce is already prepared, in some restaurants you are given a small bowl with the ingredients while you wait for your food. Simply squeeze the lime over the pepper/salt mixture, stir and the dip is ready! If you want to prepare the lime sauce for your recipe in advance, add a little fish sauce.

The pepper is not just any pepper – it comes from the Kampot region in the southwest of Cambodia. Kampot pepper is famous all over the world and is not only appreciated by star chefs. You don’t have to travel to Cambodia to enjoy Beef Lok Lak. You can buy all the ingredients here, even the pepper. You can find out where to buy it at the end of the article. Now let’s continue with the recipe. :-)

Ingredients and preparation of the lime sauce:

• 2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp water
• 1/2 – 1 tsp fish sauce
• Juice of half a lime

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl, mix and leave to infuse

Ingredients for Beef Lok Lak (for one person):

• 100 grams fillet of beef
• 2 lettuce leaves
• 1 medium-sized tomato
• 6-8 thin slices of cucumber
• 1 small carrot
• 1 small onion
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1-2 tsp fish sauce (Austrnsauce)
• 2 tsp chili sauce
• pepper, salt and sugar

Preparation of Beef Lok Lak:

1. Cut the beef into 3-5 mm thin slices, season with a little pepper and set aside
2. Cut the onion into thin rings and set aside
3. Cut the tomato, carrot and cucumber into thin slices and set aside
4. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a plate
5. Arrange the tomato, carrot and cucumber on top
6. Heat the oil in a pan
7. Add the onion to the pan and fry for 30 seconds
8. Add the meat and fry for approx. 1 minute
9. Lower the heat
10. Add the fish and chilli sauce, pepper, sugar and salt, stir and fry for a further 3 minutes
11. Serve the meat with the onions on the salad
12. Serve with rice and enjoy with the dip :-)

Fried egg as sunlight

As in all countries around the world, there are different ways of preparing the same dish. For example, you can fry a fried egg and place it on top of your Beef Lok Lag. Incidentally, the fried egg symbolizes sunlight in Cambodia :-). Alternatively, don’t fry the onions, but place them raw on top of the fried meat. If you don’t like fish sauce in your cooking, you can also leave it out. Just try out different variations.

Where to buy Kampot pepper

Now for the information on where you can buy the famous Cambodian Kampot pepper. Because only with real Kampot pepper is your Beef Lok Lak truly Cambodian. There are now various places offering this, for instance La Plantation, which is one of the largest and offers delivery almost worldwide. But I like to recommend The Pepper Hill. The Pepper Hill plantation in Cambodia – are very good friends of ours. They make sure that the pepper is grown in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. They have a partner based in Germany to sell the pepper. So you can easily buy the pepper in The Pepper Hill’s online store. Here is another photo to give you a taste :-)

Please note: There is no affiliate behind the links for The Pepper Hill. I also didn’t get any pepper as a gift or money or anything.

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