But it is based on it.
Lomo Saltado is a Peruvian beef stew kinda thing with fried potatoes just tossed in there. Pure genius. Peruvian food is heavily influenced by the Chinese (mostly due to thousands upon thousands of Chinese contract laborers sent to work on the sugar plantations in the 19th century), so there's a lot of soy sauce in addition to cumin, cinnamon, and chili peppers. Sounds tasty, right? It is.
I just wasn't feeling like putting in the effort. It was getting late, I was tired, and we were hungry. I mean, it looked like a great big pain in the ass, and really it's just modified beef stew. Which I can make blindfolded and napping on the couch. So instead, I once again opted for the lazy solution and made said modified beef stew. I added a yellow bell pepper, a metric buttload of soy sauce, cumin, cinnamon, a couple chili peppers, cayenne, and a dash of Worcestershire (cuz where there's beef, there should be Worcestershire). I baked store-bought French fries (gasp!) and threw them in at the last minute.The fries soaked up all the beefy-tomatoey broth right away and got just a titch on the soggy side. Still very edible, mind you, but I can see how frying your own from scratch would have its textural benefits. Really though, this took me very little time to make and I didn't have hot oil splattered all over my walls and countertops afterward. A small sacrifice in order to eat much sooner.
I also ran out of cilantro. That was the part that made me want to cry just a little. I'm sure this dish would have been markedly improved by fresh cilantro, even as a mere garnish; a splash of color, if you will. Alas, I made udon soup a few days earlier and used it all, then forgot to pick up more. I'm kicking myself, I assure you. Just imagine you see beautiful green cilantro bits on top, and it will make me feel a whole lot better.
To be honest, I was sort of expecting to not be impressed by this at all. I mean, I totally phoned it in. Sometimes that's been known to happen with my experimental cop-out versions of fancier dinners. But that did not occur. Apparently you really can't go wrong with meat and potatoes.
It sounds ridonk, even without the cilantro. Also, I'm all about the lazy ass versions of traditional foods. I mean, sometimes it's fun to go all out and traditional, but I made a lazy man's coq au vin last night that rocked my face off and only took an hour and a half, most of which was braising while I drank wine and watched the Broncos game.
ReplyDeleteI've never eaten Peruvian food, and now I feel all left out. To the kitchen, Batwoman!!
Beef stew with soy sauce is good. I'd skip frying the spuds and just throw them in the stew for extra laziness.
ReplyDeleteKristie - try it, you'll like it. There's also a thing called chicken aji that's very good. It's yellow.
ReplyDeletePeter - yeah, but that's just beef stew. I was trying to go outside the box just a tad, without exerting myself too much.