Cambodian venison Lok Lak - Mia style

As you know by now, I'm travelling around the world via my kitchen, trying recipes from 52 different countries in a year. I believe this one is number 37, which leaves another 15 national meals to cook before the year is over. It can be done. It will be done. It is my New Year's Resolution.

According to the Pinterest recipe I found, Cambodian Lok Lak should be cooked with beef and served on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes and a side of rice, with a small bowl of sauce next to the plate. I decided to change this by adding lots of vegetables to the actual dish and serve with rice the first day and with noodles the next, because I cooked enough for two days. It kept well in the fridge over night.

Although the recipe said beef and I used venison, I reckon you could use pork or chicken, perhaps even fish or seafood. Why not try? Feel free to let me know who it went.

The original recipe called for an awful lot of fish sauce in the marinade and even more in the sauce. If you have ever cooked with fish sauce, you'll know that it smells like feet. Honestly, it is terrible. Imagine a pair of feet in socks and boots, getting wet and trampling around for a week without washing and you have the stench of fish sauce. Luckily most of the smell disappears during the cooking process and the food doesn't taste of feet. That being said, prior to finding this recipe, I had never cooked with this amount of feet, sorry, fish sauce. After finding this recipe, I still haven't cooked with that amount. Like the wimp I am, I chickened out and reduced it. I also decided not to make the sauce on the side, as it wasn't needed.

Although I didn't add the full amount of the smelly stuff, I could definitely taste it. No, it didn't taste of feet, but was still quite distinct, a bit tangy. Any more and the dish could have been spoilt. Could have, I say, as I don't know. Unfortunately I didn't measure how much I used. I know, this may come back an haunt me. Fortunately I have a rough idea and a great deal of hope for next time I attempt to make this meal.

There was corn starch in the original recipe, but as I cooked the meat with lots of vegetables, I decided not to use any. The marinade wouldn't be too runny with that much stuff in it and if it was, it wouldn't matter anyway. As it turned out, it was pretty perfect, thick and rich and full of flavour. It was one of those dishes that would be lovely on an Asian buffet if you want to impress guests with your cooking.

I'm planning to do exactly that in a few weeks. I shall serve this Cambodian venison Lok Lak with noodles, prawn spring rolls, sweet & sour chicken and rice on the side, then sit back and soak up the praise. Fingers crossed all goes well and I don't tip the saucepan over myself, slip on a prawn or fall into the oven with the baked spring rolls. You never know what's going to happen when I start dancing in the kitchen.

Anyway, to make my version of Lok Lak, you need: 

600 g venison or beef, thinly sliced

1 large onion, roughly chopped

5 large mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 pepper, sliced (I used a frozen mixture)
1 garlic clove

oil for cooking

Marinade:

2 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 chicken stock cube

salt & pepper

2-3 tbsp fish sauce (I probably used 2)

chilli powder (I used sambal olek)

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp paprika

1. Get the meat and marinade ingredients out.

2. Add the marinade ingredients to a container and mix well. 

Only add 2 garlic cloves, leave 1 behind for cooking later.

3. Slice the meat fairly thinly.

4. Add the meat to the marinade, cover and leave in the fridge for at least an hour.

5. Get the rest of the ingredients out.

As you can see, I opted for frozen peppers this time. It is summer (ish) and sometimes crazy hot. I have found that fresh peppers go off quite quickly at the moment. I still use fresh ones for a salad, 

but frozen peppers are perfectly good for cooking and a lot cheaper as well.

6. Soften onion, garlic and mushrooms in a little oil.

7. Add the sliced pepper and cook until almost done. Set aside.

8. Pop the meat and marinade into the empty frying pan and cook until almost done. 

It won't take long, if you slided it thinly. Don't overcook it.

9. Add the vegetables back to the saucepan.

10. Cook until done. 

Check that colour out! Doesn't it look beautiful? As you know, I didn't add any corn starch, but it wasn't needed. You can see some liquid at the bottom of the pan, but it was just enough to coat the rice or noodles when serving. If you want more liquid, add a splash of water. If you want less, cook for another few minutes to reduce it. I recommend leaving this amount though.

11. Serve and enjoy.

I dished it up in a fancy way, took a photo and promptly mixed it up to coat the rice with the meaty glaze. It was incredibly tasty and I'm glad I cooked enough for a boomerang meal.

12. Keep the leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge overnight 

and serve a boomerang meal the following day.