Beef and peppers brochettes with lemongrass
Last year, we were invited to Ingrid and Frederic’s place to celebrate Gregoire’s christening. Frederic’s father, Anh was in charge of the meal. Anh is Vietnamese, so we had the pleasure to taste some food from his country, such as spring rolls, deep fried prawns and many other things.
When I walked into the house, I could smell something really aromatic but I didn’t know what it was. Then, on the table, I saw a huge plate with beef brochettes, resting, before being cooked on the barbecue. I immediately knew where the amazing smell was coming from.
Taking advantage of the calm before the other guests arrived, I began to chat about food with Anh and, as I was very curious about his brochettes, he kindly explained to me how to prepare them and even wrote down the list of ingredients for this very aromatic beef marinade.
In the past years, I’ve discovered that most people are very generous when it comes to sharing their cooking tips, their best addresses or even their favorite recipes. If people wish to keep their recipes for themselves, I never insist and luckily I notice quickly when they are reluctant to share them. Sometimes I wish I could tell them that their cooking is not going to lose any value if they share it with somebody else. Of course, I’ve never done it. One day, perhaps.
On a Saturday evening, I prepared Ahn’s beef’s brochettes, not on a barbecue, as our garden is in a mess because of the building work, but in an oven. I was very happy to rediscover this very aromatic smell in my kitchen.
Thanks a lot to Ahn for his precious advice.
Beef and peppers brochettes with lemon grass
Ingredients for 6 to 8 persons
1.8 kg beef (rump steak) cut into 3,5 cm cubes
1 lemon grass
2 small garlic cloves
1 level tsp salt
1 level tsp turmeric
1 level tsp curry
2 pinches of 5 spices
2 level tsp brown sugar or palm sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
6 to 8 wooden skewers, soaked in water
Put the cubed beef into a large bowl.
Peel the garlic cloves and put them into a mortar with salt.
Remove the extremity of the lemon grass and the outer layer.
Chop the rest and add it to the mortar.
Crush the garlic with salt and lemon grass until you have a paste.
Pour into a small bowl; add the spices, sugar and oil.
Mix and add it to the meat.
Mix well with your hands in order to cover each piece of meat, cover and leave to marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Remove from the fridge 1 hour before cooking.
Remove the extremities of both peppers, cut them in half, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into squares the same size as the beef cubes.
Thread the cubes of meat and the peppers (5 pieces of meat and 4 pieces of pepper) on to the skewers and place under a preheated grill. Cook for 4 minutes, turning halfway through cooking
Note from a girl to others girls
Avoid having a manicure just before cooking these brochettes as your nails might become yellow because of the turmeric, which happens to be a very strong coloring even if it’s natural. As soon as you have mixed the meat with your hands, wash them with a lot of soap. You can also ask someone to do mix the meat with the marinade for you unless you’re married to someone who can not touch raw meat …
Note on the ingredients
Lemon grass can be found in most Asian grocery shops. You can also find it in some markets.
You can find all the spices in supermarkets, markets or delicatessens.
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