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Preparation
25 minutes
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Cooking
55 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Beef skewers are an irresistible fried dish that you must try when visiting the mountainous region of Northwest Vietnam. However, you don’t need to travel all the way to Moc Chau (Northwest) to enjoy this delicious specialty, as you can make this flavorful dish right in your beloved kitchen. So, let’s get cooking with TasteVN to find out right away!
Ingredients for Moc Chau Beef Skewers Serves 4 people
Beef 500 gr Fermented soy sauce 5 teaspoons Lemongrass 4 stalks Ginger 1 piece (medium size) Lime juice 2 teaspoons Roasted sesame 1 teaspoon Sugar 3/2 teaspoons Ground pepper 1 teaspoon Seasoning powder 1 teaspoon Shallots 7 cloves MSG 1/3 teaspoon Annatto oil 1 teaspoon Cooking oil 500 ml (1 bottle)
Tips for buying veal
- To make the Mộc Châu fried veal dish with the right flavor, you should choose pieces of meat from male calves that are still young and only drink their mother’s milk.
- Before selling, the veal is briefly roasted to reveal a golden skin, so when you buy it, you just need to pay attention to the inner meat, which should be bright red, look fresh, and have good elasticity when pressed.
How to process and eliminate the smell of veal
Veal rarely has a fishy smell, as these are young calves that have only drunk their mother’s milk and have not yet eaten grass, making their meat very tender and sweet. Therefore, you can rinse the veal briefly with water or rub coarse salt onto the meat, then rinse it with clean water. After that, let it dry or use a towel to absorb the excess water before processing.
Tools needed
Blender, pan, knife, cutting board, stove,…
How to cook Mộc Châu Fried Veal
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Slicing the veal
Using a knife, cut the veal into rectangular pieces approximately the size of 1 finger joint in width and 2 finger joints in length, or slice thinly with a thickness of 1/2 finger joint depending on your preference.
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Marinate the beef
First, peel the shallots and chop them finely. Then, use a knife to scrape the ginger skin, chop it finely, and mince a bit of ginger for the dipping sauce. Finally, add the mixture of shallots, lemongrass, and ginger (chopped) into a blender, and press the button to blend until smooth.
Squeeze the juice from the blended mixture, add it to the beef (sliced) to marinate along with 2 teaspoons of fermented soybean paste, 1 teaspoon of annatto oil, 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, 1.5 teaspoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of ground pepper, mixing well so that the beef absorbs the spices for about 30 minutes.
For the remaining 2 stalks of lemongrass, slice them thinly to fry until crispy, symbolizing straw.
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Stir-fry the beef
First, place a pan on the stove and add about 2/3 of the pan with cooking oil, turning the heat to high. Wait for the oil to heat up, then add all the lemongrass (sliced thinly) and fry evenly until golden, then remove and drain.
Using the same pan, divide the beef into 2 – 3 portions, then fry each portion in the pan until the beef is firm and turns golden, then remove and drain.
Tip: Dividing the beef into smaller portions for frying (also known as stir-frying) helps the meat cook quickly while still retaining its sweetness and tenderness.
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Prepare the dipping sauce with soybean paste
You put into a bowl 3 teaspoons of soybean paste, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1/3 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, and a little minced ginger, and stir well.
Tip: Depending on where you buy it, the saltiness of the soybean paste can vary, you can add sugar and monosodium glutamate to suit your taste.
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Final Product
Fried Beef with Moc Chau has an enticing aroma from the crispy golden lemongrass that looks like straw. The beef is sweet and tender, rich in flavor, with a crispy skin that is not too tough, and dipping it with soybean paste enhances the sweet and fatty taste of the beef combined with the distinctive aroma of roasted sesame.
When eating, you can accompany it with some herbs like cilantro, mint, or some wild vegetables that you like.
Delicious Mộc Châu beef hotpot tips
- Choose freshly slaughtered beef for a sweeter and more tender taste.
- Slice the beef into bite-sized pieces, not too thin and not too thick, so that it retains its sweet and tender flavor without drying out when fried to a golden color.
- Beef must be dipped in fermented soybean paste for the authentic taste, avoid using shrimp paste as a substitute!
With the sharing above, we hope you now know how to make Mộc Châu beef hotpot deliciously and authentically in the Northern style! Wish you success.
*Image compilation and recipe reference from YouTube sources like Delicious Vietnamese Dishes.
