Book of Days Tales

Pchum ben is a 15-day festival in Cambodia when people visit pagodas with gifts for the monks of food and lotus blossoms to honor their deceased relatives – some honoring 7 generations by visiting 7 pagodas in that period. The last 3 days are the most important and today (October 1^st) is the first of those 3 days this year.

Here is beef lok lak made in the Cambodian style.  It is common across what used to be Indochina, but each region does it differently.

Ingredients

300 gm beef steaks, sliced thin
¼ cup light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce (or ketchup)
3 tbsp sugar  
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp fish sauce  
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil

To serve

2 small tomatoes, sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and finely sliced
½ small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
lettuce, iceberg or romaine leaf

Dipping sauce

juice of a lime
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp water

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix the beef with the soy sauce, oyster sauce, tomato sauce sugar, fish sauce and ground black pepper and garlic. Marinate at least one hour.

Make the dipping sauce by combining the ingredients in a small bowl, and set aside.

Decorate two dinner plates with sliced tomatoes, cucumber and onion. Set aside.

Place the lettuce leaves on a separate platter.

Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat and stir-fry the beef until cooked. Divide between the two dinner plates.

Diners take a lettuce leaf, wrap some pork and vegetables in it, dip in the sauce, and eat. You can serve this dish with plain boiled rice, in which case diners may also add some rice to the lettuce wrap.